(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stocks finished little changed on Friday after a government report showed unemployment rate jumped to a 26-year high of 9.4%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 12.89 points or 0.15% to finish at 8,763.13. The S&P 500 declined 2.37 points or 0.25% to end at 940.09. The Nasdaq Composite decreased 0.60 points or 0.03% to 1,849.42.
A release by Department of Labor on Friday showed U.S. employers slashed 345,000 net jobs in May. Economists were expecting a drop of 520,000 in non-farm payrolls. Unemployment rate jumped to a 26-year high of 9.4%. Consensus estimates were for jobless rate to increase to 9.2%.
Financial stocks finished with losses. Shares of
Citigroup (NYSE: C) plunged 11 cents or 3.08% to $3.46.According to the Wall Street Journal, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp is pushing for a shake-up of Citigroup Inc's top management, including replacing Chief Executive Vikram Pandit. JP Morgan (NYSE:
JPM) retreated 80 cents or 2.26% to $34.81. Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) lost 38 cents or 1.51% to $24.72.
Merrill Lynch on Friday downgraded shares of chemical DuPont (NYSE:
DD) to underperform from neutral. Shares of the company tumbled $1.71 or 5.96% to $27.
Among the gainers, Boeing Co. (NYSE:
BA) rallied $2.08 or 4.11% to $52.65.
Shares of Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:
AA), the largest US aluminum maker, surged 25 cents or 2.34% to $10.94.
Caterpillar (NYSE:
CAT) rose 45 cents or 1.18% to $38.47.
Shares of Hewlett Packard Co. (NYSE:
HPQ) climbed $1.26 or 3.49% to $37.35.
Meanwhile, media reports suggested that Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs is on track to return from medical leave this month.
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said on Friday that global chip sales are expected to fall 21.3% year-over-year to $195.6 billion in 2009.The SIA expects a rebound in global sales to begin in 2010, with a year-over-year growth of 6.5% to $208.3 billion.
Late on Thursday, clothing and apparel maker Guess Inc. (NYSE: GES) reported that net earnings first quarter net income declined 32% to $32.5 million, or 35 cents a share from $47.8 million, or 50 cents a share, in the prior year quarter. Revenue decreased 9.8% to $441.2 million. Shares of Guess jumped $1.56 or 5.77% to 28.60.
Shares of mining giant Rio Tinto (NYSE:
RTP) soared $11.08 or 6.07% to $193.76 after it scrapped a planned $19.5 billion investment deal with China's Chinalco. The company also said that enter into an iron ore joint venture with rival BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) and will launch a rights issue to slash its debts.
European stocks settled with gains. The UK FTSE climbed 51.62 points or 1.18% to 4,438.56. The German DAX and French CAC increased 0.24% and 0.82% respectively.
Asian stocks finished higher. The Nikkei 225 rose 99.05 points or 1.02% to 9,768.01. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong advanced 176.76 points or 0.96% to 18,679.53.
NYMEX crude oil for July delivery declined 37 cents or 0.5% to settle at $68.44 a barrel.
Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.
