Markets: Blue chips fall on Wall Street
The pre-Easter session ended with the biggest weekly drop of the year.
Blue chip stocks on Wall Street ended the pre-Easter session with their biggest weekly drop of the year.
Investors weighed positive news on the labour market front against concerns about Europe's economy.
New applications for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level in nearly four years, further evidence that US employers added a healthy number of workers in March.
Concerns over Europe's sovereign-debt crisis mounted as yields on 10-year Spanish government bonds hit a high of 5.81%, the highest mark since December.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 14.61 points, or 0.1%, to 13,060.14, extending its retreat to a third-straight day and a holiday-shortened weekly loss of 1.2%.
The S&P 500 index ticked down 0.1% to 1398.08, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.4%, to 3080.50, as Apple extended its advance to an all-time high.
Other markets: Europe up, Asia down
European markets erased earlier losses to finish with a small gain.
The Stoxx Europe 600 advanced 0.1% at 259.07, having hit a near two-month low during the session.
The UK’s FTSE 100 closed higher, up 0.3% at 5723.67, after falling to a near three-month low.
Germany's DAX closed down 0.1% at 6775.26 and France’s CAC-40 index closed 0.2% higher at 3319.81.
Asian markets were mostly lower. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.5% to 9767.61 for a third-straight day loss.
Hong Kong investors returning from a one-day holiday pushed the Hang Seng Index down 1% to 20,593.00.
In China, the Shanghai Composite Index, trading for the first time this week, was a sharp contrast, moving off early losses to finish with a gain of 1.7% at 2302.24.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.3% to 4319.8 and Korea's Kospi joined Shanghai on the positive side, rising 0.5% to 2028.77.
In commodities, crude-oil prices gained 1.8% to settle at $US103.31 a barrel, while gold prices tacked on 1% to settle at $US1628.50 an ounce.
In currency trading, the US dollar rose against the euro but lost ground against the yen.
Nevil Gibson
Fri, 06 Apr 2012
Fri, 06 Apr 2012
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Markets: Blue chips fall on Wall Street
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