Stock Market News for April 5, 2010 - Market News
US stocks posted modest gains on the first trading day of the second quarter as better-than-expected reports on jobs and manufacturing gave investors reasons to cheer. However, the NASDAQ failed to keep pace with the broader market as technology issues showed weakness, dragged down by Research in Motion’s less-than-expected fourth quarter shipments.
The holiday shortened week saw the blue-chip Dow average adding 0.7% while the tech-laden NASDAQ closing up 0.3%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was the best performer of the three, ending with a 1% weekly gain. The Dow average ended the quarter with a 4.2% advance, its best first-quarter performance in more than a decade. The broader S&P 500 index pulled off a relatively better performance with a 4.9% quarterly gain, its best first-quarter since 1998.
The week's potentially most market-moving news item, the monthly jobs report, was released on Friday but closed equity markets were not able to gauge its impact. Although unemployment remained at 9.7%, the Labor Department noted employers added 162,000 jobs in March. This morning’s stock futures suggest market participants are interpreting those numbers positively. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 39, or 0.4%, to 10,899. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 4.50, or 0.4%, to 1,178.20, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 9.75, or 0.6%, to 1,961.75.
In yet another sign of confidence in the market’s money-raising capacity, Citigroup (NYSE:C) said the IPO of its Primerica (NYSE:PRI) life insurance business raised $320.4 million. Citigroup (NYSE:C) said it sold about 21.4 million common shares in Primerica at $15 apiece. Primerica’s (NYSE:PRI) stock jumped 31% by the close. Investors also grew hopeful that forthcoming tech and financial deals will see equally better demand. Expectations for dividend hikes from cash-rich firms grew stronger as JP Morgan’s (NYSE:JPM) annual shareholder letter indicated a dividend boost to $0.75-$1.00 was possible if certain conditions are met.
In a clear bounce back from February, when poor weather conditions impacted sales, automobile manufacturers reported a healthy 24.3 % jump in March sales, led by a 41% surge from Toyota (NYSE:TM), whose biggest incentive ever helped it brush aside the impact of millions of recalls. Over the weekend, Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad witnessed a successful launch and drew a picture of healthy consumer spending. Nevertheless, iPad revealed Apple’s ability to provide consumers what they didn't know they wanted.
Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s FOMC March meeting are due out on Tuesday, and Fed Chairman Bernanke also speaks before the Dallas Chamber of Commerce. Addresses from Fed's Dudley and Hoenig are slated for Wednesday, with Duke, Tarullo, Kocherlakota, and Kohn scheduled to take the mike on Thursday. An ECB meeting on Thursday may offer further insight into the Greek situation and the likelihood of its default.
The preceding article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.
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