(By Balachander) U.S. stocks ended on a mixed note as weakness in technology shares reversed earlier gains spurred by a surprise fall in unemployment rate. Investors eye the third-quarter earnings season that kicks off on Tuesday, with bellwether Alcoa (NYSE:AA) reporting its numbers after the market closes.
The S&P 500 Index slid 0.03 percent to finish at 1,460.92. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.26 percent to end at 13,610.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.42 percent to close at 3,136.19.
Monthly U.S. non-farm payrolls report showed 114,000 jobs were added in September, and the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 7.8 percent to a lowest level since January 2009. Economists expected creation of 113,000 jobs and unemployment rate to inch higher to 8.2 percent for the previous month.
Non-farm payrolls measures the change in the number of people employed during the previous month, excluding the farming industry.
Hot Stocks Of The Day: AAPL, ZNGA, AVP, CW, STZ, DTLK, CACH, VRNG, FLTX, IQNT, ABR
In corporate news, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) retreated 2.12 percent, dragging the NASDAQ down.
Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ:ZNGA) tumbled 11.90 percent after the social gaming company said it expects a loss for the third quarter and cut its full-year guidance, citing lower expectations for certain web games including "The Ville," and delays in launching several new games.
Avon Products Inc. (NYSE:AVP) jumped 7.21 percent after the beauty products company said Andrea Jung will step down as executive chairman, succeeded by lead independent director Fred Hassan.
Curtiss-Wright Corp. (NYSE:CW) retreated 4.43 percent after the provider of engineered flow control products reduced its earnings forecast, citing negative impacts of a recent labor strike, delays in the start of oil and gas projects and modest softening of new orders.
Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE:STZ) gained 4.26 percent after the premium wine company raised its comparable earnings forecast for the year ending February 2013.
Cache Inc. (NASDAQ:CACH) retreated 15.69 percent after the sportswear company forecast a wider-than-expected loss and lower sales for the third quarter due to increased promotional activity and "equally challenging" sales of its early fall offerings.
Vringo Inc. (NYSEAMEX:VRNG) tanked 13.52 percent after the software developer for cellphones priced a registered direct offering of its shares at a discount of 17 percent to the stock's previous closing price. The New York-based company expects gross proceeds of roughly $45 million from the sale of around 10.34 million shares at $4.35 apiece.
Datalink Corp. (NASDAQ:DTLK) shed 13.40 percent after the provider of data-center services cut its outlook for the third quarter, saying it saw expected contracts pushed back by as much as 90 days or more due to uncertainty economic condition.
Fleetmatics (NYSE:FLTX) has priced its initial public offering of around 7.81 million shares at $17.00 apiece, the high end of its estimated range. Shares of the provider of fleet management services jumped as much as 36 percent on their public debut.
Inteliquent (NASDAQ:IQNT), formerly Neutral Tandem Inc., declared a special one-time cash dividend of $3.00 per share, or roughly totaling $97 million. The Chicago-based provider of voice, data and hosted services also said it is engaged in ongoing talks with one of its largest customers. Those talks may result in a significant reduction in the rates that customer pays and require Inteliquent to pay to terminate certain traffic to that customer. Shares fell 15.01 percent.
Arbor Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE:ABR) declined 5.79 percent after the real-estate investment trust priced its public offering of 3.5 million shares at a public $5.80 each, a 4 percent discount to the stock's previous closing price.
Global Markets
European markets ended sharply higher, with Germany's DAX up 1.27 percent to close at 7,397.87. France's CAC40 jumped 1.64 percent to finish at 3,457.04. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.74 percent to end at 5,871.02.
Among Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 0.44 percent to end at 8,863.30. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.50 percent to close at 20,012.38. India's BSE Sensex finished at 18,398.46, down 0.63 percent. China's Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index is closed for a public holiday.
Commodity & Currency Scan
Crude oil futures declined 1.95 percent to $89.92 per barrel, and natural gas futures edged down 0.41 percent to $3.392 per million metric British thermal units. Gold futures fell 0.87 percent to $1,780.8 per ounce and silver futures tumbled 1.73 percent to $34.495 per ounce.
In the currency market, the euro inched up 0.06 percent against the U.S. dollar to 1.3025. The British pound slipped 0.37 percent against the greenback to 1.6131, while the dollar added 0.23 percent against the Japanese yen to 78.6600.