Stocks ended modestly higher as investors digested several economic reports on the labor market and manufacturing. The number of planned job cuts fell 23% in August, ADP private-sector payrolls rose by 91,000, while economists were expecting the private sector to hire 100,000 new workers during the month, down from the 109,000 in the prior month. In other economic data, the June factory orders jumped 2.4%, much better than the 1% decline expected. Tech stocks closed with a mixed performance, but it was losses from AT&T that stood out as the U.S. Justice Department sued to block the telecom giant’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA. Oracle rose 0.72% as U.S. authorities are investigating whether Oracle violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. IBM gave up 0.35% as the co. said it would acquire i2. Implied volatility inched lower on massive trading volumes.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Posted modest gains
Stocks ended modestly higher as investors digested several economic reports on the labor market and manufacturing. The number of planned job cuts fell 23% in August, ADP private-sector payrolls rose by 91,000, while economists were expecting the private sector to hire 100,000 new workers during the month, down from the 109,000 in the prior month. In other economic data, the June factory orders jumped 2.4%, much better than the 1% decline expected. Tech stocks closed with a mixed performance, but it was losses from AT&T that stood out as the U.S. Justice Department sued to block the telecom giant’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA. Oracle rose 0.72% as U.S. authorities are investigating whether Oracle violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. IBM gave up 0.35% as the co. said it would acquire i2. Implied volatility inched lower on massive trading volumes.
