Stocks Reverse Course Ahead Of Friday’s Employment Update – Acadiana Business Index

The major averages snapped a two-day losing streak on Thursday. Ken Meyers has your stock market report on the Acadiana Business Index.

• The Dow erased a loss of as much as 116 points to finish up 80 points to 15040. The S&P 500 Index gained over 13 points to 1622 after losing 10 points earlier in the session. The NASDAQ was higher by 22 points to 3424.
• Stocks reversed course as investors speculated the Fed may continue its monthly bond purchases amid weak expectations for Friday’s employment update. The May nonfarm payrolls report is anticipated to show no improvement from the previous month’s reading of 165,000. Meanwhile, a larger-than-estimated drop in weekly jobless claims was overlooked.
• Europe garnered attention. The ECB held back from implementing additional stimulus as President Mario Draghi predicted the euro zone to return to growth by the end of 2013.
• Overall, nine of the 10 S&P 500 sectors were higher. The defensive Telecommunications group gained the most ground as Verizon rallied 3.3% to $49.90 and AT&T advanced 1.6% to $35.81. Financials and Health Care both staged a comeback as Pfizer rose 2.1% to $28.05 and Citigroup increased 1.4% to $50.71. Technology lagged behind due to Apple’s 1.7% decline to $437.71.
• NYSE Composite volume totaled over 3.4 billion shares. On the NYSE, advancers beat decliners by 7-2 on issues and by 11-2 on volume. The NASDAQ was 2-1 positive on issues and 3-1 positive on volume.
• In fixed-income, Treasury yields inched lower. The 10-year note was up 4/32 to yield 2.08% and the 30-year bond gained 5/32 to yield 3.24%. (This is - FA Name/FA Title --------- with Wells Fargo Advisors. LLC, member SIPC or Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC. member SIPC.)