US markets spent the morning in retreat, with pundits putting the blame on Europe and the rocky state of the finances of several European nations. Europe's debt crisis overshadowed a mixed set of US employment figures.

The unemployment rate fell to 9.7% from 10% but 20,000 employees lost their jobs in January. Both changes were against expectations. Payrolls had been tipped to climb slightly during the month but the unemployment rate was also expected to edge up.

The fall in the rate of unemployment was due to a rise in the number of people who have given up looking for work.

The Dow Jones is down 36 at 9,965 and the broader S&P 500 has dropped 3 to 1,059 but the NASDAQ Composite is barely changed at 2,125.

On the corporate front, health insurer Aetna has issued disappointing earnings guidance for 2010. The company said earnings per share are likely to be in the $2.55 to $2.65 range, compared to market consensus of $2.84.

East coast oil refiner Sunoco reported an adjusted fourth quarter loss per share of 27 cents, slightly worse than the 25 cents per share loss the market had been expecting.

The share price of Airgas inflated after news broke that Air Products & Chemicals has made an unsolicited bid approach for the industrial gases company. Air Products, which is proposing takeover terms worth $60 per share, has been rebuffed in two previous approaches to the Airgas board and said that this time it is prepared to take the offer straight to shareholders.

Business information company Dun & Bradstreet fell back on disappointing profits guidance. The company said that underlying earnings per share (EPS) in 2010 would be $5.75 at best; the market had been expecting EPS of $5.86.

Investors have an appetite for food processing company Tyson Foods, however, after better than expected first quarter profits powered by higher sales at its chicken and beef divisions.

Broker comment undermined retailer Nordstrom. Goldman Sachs was cut to 'neutral' from 'buy'.

Elsewhere, Toyota's president and grandson of the company's founder, Akio Toyoda, today apologised to the drivers affected by the recall of over 8m of its cars.

It was Toyoda's first public appearance since the carmaker began recalling cars because of 'sticky' accelerator pedals two weeks ago.

S&P 500 - Risers
Airgas Inc. (ARG) $60.54 +39.07%
MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) $12.36 +6.57%
Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI) $22.50 +5.63%
Tyson Foods Inc. Class A (TSN) $14.74 +5.36%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Air Products Chem (APD) $68.50 -7.04%
The Dun & Bradstreet Corp. (DNB) $73.81 -5.06%
Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) $13.77 -4.90%
Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) $33.60 -4.30%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $23.60 +1.90%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $19.30 +1.47%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
General Electric Co. (GE) $15.59 -2.81%
Boeing Co. (BA) $58.05 -2.14%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $28.68 +3.50%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $12.06 +2.20%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $32.87 +1.92%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $23.60 +1.90%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $45.94 +1.64%
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $23.48 +1.60%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $19.30 +1.47%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Foster Wheeler AG (FWLT) $26.12 -5.53%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $35.09 -4.18%
Logitech International S.A. (LOGI) $15.59 -2.74%
Virgin Media Inc. (VMED) $13.83 -2.40%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $37.52 -2.34%
Qiagen N.V. (QGEN) $20.68 -2.31%
News Corp. Class A (NWSA) $12.79 -2.24%

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