Wall Street's main stock indexes finished mixed in quiet trade on Friday as data showing moderate US job gains last month helped limit profit taking following a two-day rally.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 5.69 points, or 0.04 percent, to close at 13,625.58, while the NASDAQ composite drifted down 2.87 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,706.16.
The broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 2.68 points, or 0.18 percent, to 1,504.66.
The market held in a narrow range for most of the day as traders digested a strong two-day rally, fueled in part by a White House-brokered mortgage rescue plan aimed at stemming a tide of home foreclosures that could cripple the economy.
In what was seen as positive news for stocks, the US government reported 94,000 jobs were added to the economy last month.
The unemployment rate held steady at 4.7 percent.
The report was consistent with cooling growth but not with a severe downturn or recession some have feared. It also may allow the US Federal Reserve to continue cutting interest rates, analysts said.
"The report reassured investors that the economy is not heading into a recession," said Al Goldman, chief market strategist at AG Edwards. "At the same time, it did not discourage hopes for another interest rate cut when the Federal Reserve meets next week."
Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at DA Davidson & Co, said the aid plan and the prospect of lower interest rates is helping Wall Street keep a positive tone.
"Investor confidence in housing and the economy has momentarily been restored by comments coming from the Fed governors, the ability of major financial institutions to raise capital to restore their balance sheet and the president's proposal to partially stabilize the housing market," he said. "Time will tell if this marked the ultimate bottom of the slide in the subprime mortgage market or was a temporary stopping point."
"The stock market has rallied in tandem with the rally in the subprime secondary mortgage market. Unless the Fed delivers a lump of coal into Wall Street's stocking next Wednesday, we see the current rally continuing through year-end," Dickson said.
Most analysts expect the Fed to cut its federal funds rate, currently at 4.5 percent, by a quarter-point. A few say a half-point cut is possible, but that likelihood was diminished by the employment report.
Among stocks in focus, News Corp rose 0.41 percent to US$21.93 as the media conglomerate headed by Rupert Murdoch announced a series of management changes as it prepares to close a deal to acquire Dow Jones & Co owner of The Wall Street Journal.
Yum Brands advanced 0.95 percent to US$39.42 as the owner of KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants boosted its outlook for global earnings growth.
In technology, Palm slid 12.9 percent to US$5.74 as the maker of smartphones said shipping delays would dent profits.
Bonds lost ground as markets braced for next week's Fed meeting. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose to 4.120 percent from 3.998 percent on Thursday and that on the 30-year bond increased to 4.585 percent from 4.479 percent.
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US