Business Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WALL STREET
STOCKS END MIXED AFTER ERASING VIRTUALLY ALL DAY’S LOSS Stocks finally went investors way, erasing steep losses to end yesterday mixed, with Novellus Systems, Procter & Gamble, and Tribune advancing as Manitowoc pulled back.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 7.92 points, or 0.07%, to 10938.82 after being down as much as 173 points. This was the Dow’s first gain in five sessions. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 6.48, or 0.3%, to 2145.32, down for its fifth straight session.The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 1.78, or 0.14%, to 1257.93, after slipping for a time into negative territory for the year. The New York Stock Exchange saw record composite volume.
The day’s turnaround “was extraordinary,” the chief investment officer at Wilmington Trust, Neil Wolfson, said. “We started the day again focused on interest rates. But by the afternoon people started to take notice of some good news, such as a fall in oil prices. Now the question is whether there will be any follow through. One day does not make a bull market.”
– Dow Jones Newswires
ECONOMY
FEWER LAID OFF WORKERS FILE JOBLESS CLAIMS The number of laid off workers filing claims for unemployment plunged last week by the largest amount in eight months, but it might have been a statistical fluke.
The Labor Department reported yesterday that 302,000 people filed for benefits last week, down 35,000 from the previous week. Analysts had expected decline of about 6,000.
It was the biggest one-week improvement since jobless claims fell by 65,000 during the week ending September 24. During that period, claims figures were buffeted by massive layoffs from the Gulf Coast hurricanes.
– Associated Press
TECHNOLOGY
TEXAS GOVERNOR WANTS BORDER WEB CAMERAS Governor Perry of Texas has announced a $5 million plan to install hundreds of night-vision cameras on private land along the Mexican border and put the live video on the Internet, so that anyone with a computer who spots illegal immigrants trying to slip across can report it on a toll-free hot line.
“I look at this as not different from the neighborhood watches we have had in our communities for years and years,” Mr. Perry said.
– Associated Press
