The US saw mixed results on Thursday, with stocks initially boosted by jobless data, which showed a fall to levels not seen in over four years, but then dampened by confusion over its accuracy.

It was widely reported that the figures have been significantly distorted by seasonal factors, with one equity strategist reportedly saying claims should in fact have been 30,000 higher.

Others have suggested that the decline was due to one of the larger states delaying its re-certification process, which ties in with the fact that the majority of other states reported an unadjusted increase in claims.

Barclays Research is of the opinion that, "overall, even when accounting for what appears to be a technically driven decline in this week's initial jobless claims, the longer-term trend in initial claims is suggestive of a modest improvement in labour market conditions."

In other news, speaking on Thursday, Federal Reserve Governor Jeremy Stein offered his support for the central bank's latest bond-buying programme, although he shares concerns about the long-term effectiveness of future asset purchases.

Of interest, the latest weekly reading on investor sentiment from AAII showed a rise in bearish sentiment to 38.8%, from 33.2% in the week before. The long-run average stands at 30%. To be had in account, these results are sometimes employed as a contrarian indicator.

Company news



New York Times Co. climbed on Thursday, boosted by an upgrade from Barclays to overweight following a stabilisation of cash flow and an increase in circulation revenues.

DragonWave shares were also higher after its second quarter losses reduced on the back of improved revenues.

Lenovo accounted for 15.7% of PC shipments last quarter, surpassing 15.5% for the previous market leader Hewlett-Packard, Gartner said.

Fastenal was a high riser on the S&P 500 after the release of its third quarter sales figures, which came in better-than-expected.

Shares of telecommunications services provider Sprint Nextel were shooting up after reports that Japanese outfit Softbank may offer to acquire the outfit.

Analysts at Credit Suisse have downgraded their view on Texas Instruments to neutral from outperform.

Surprise drop in unemployment claims

Initial weekly unemployment claims dropped by 30,000 to 339,000 last week (Consensus: 370,000), their lowest in four years.

The trade deficit for the month of September fell to $44.22bn (Consensus: $44bn) from $42.47bn in the month before.

Import prices increased at a 1.1% month-on-month pace in September (Consensus: 0.7%). Furthermore, the previous month's data has been revised up to show a gain of 1.1% (Preliminary: 0.7%).

Treasuries fall

10-year US Treasuries were up by 1/32 dollars with yields standing at 1.67%.

Front month West Texas crude futures are rising by 0.9% to the $92.07/barrel mark on NYMEX.

S&P 500 - Risers
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $8.56 +17.10%
Sprint Nextel Corporation (S) $5.76 +14.29%
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) $26.17 +8.91%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $45.90 +8.46%
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (JCP) $26.17 +8.36%
CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) $35.48 +8.01%
Iron Mountain Inc. (IRM) $35.97 +4.72%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $73.28 +4.30%
SLM Corp. (SLM) $17.31 +3.90%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $20.14 +3.60%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Dollar Tree Stores Inc. (DLTR) $43.28 -7.74%
Safeway Inc. (SWY) $15.71 -3.56%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $72.58 -3.55%
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $31.16 -3.29%
Metropcs Communications Inc. (PCS) $11.65 -3.24%
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $98.32 -3.18%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $62.18 -3.12%
Lennar Corp. Class A (LEN) $35.73 -2.85%
Family Dollar Stores Inc. (FDO) $66.13 -2.75%
D. R. Horton Inc. (DHI) $20.24 -2.36%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $9.33 +1.31%
American Express Co. (AXP) $58.48 +0.88%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $42.10 +0.79%
Boeing Co. (BA) $70.83 +0.70%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.77 +0.69%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $14.26 +0.56%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $113.08 +0.56%
General Electric Co. (GE) $22.52 +0.40%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $91.21 +0.20%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $38.12 +0.07%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
AT&T Inc. (T) $36.27 -1.76%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $50.35 -1.68%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $45.21 -1.25%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $59.02 -1.21%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $48.80 -0.65%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $75.02 -0.53%
3M Co. (MMM) $92.87 -0.44%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $67.96 -0.38%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $69.14 -0.37%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $21.68 -0.37%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $45.90 +8.46%
Infosys Technologies Ltd. (INFY) $48.22 +2.88%
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $28.86 +2.70%
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) $60.92 +2.63%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $32.71 +2.57%
Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) $6.02 +2.03%
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $7.91 +1.93%
Liberty Interactive Corp (LINTA) $19.31 +1.90%
Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN) $23.31 +1.75%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $47.50 +1.58%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Dollar Tree Stores Inc. (DLTR) $43.28 -7.74%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $72.58 -3.55%
Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) $98.32 -3.18%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $62.18 -3.12%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $628.10 -2.00%
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $54.25 -1.86%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $67.59 -1.62%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $44.90 -1.43%
DIRECTV (DTV) $50.12 -1.17%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $59.20 -0.97%

NR

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