Wall Street opens narrowly mixed as service economy slows
Oil prices, which had been higher since the sailors and marines were taken March 23, moved lower. Investors also weighed a disappointing estimate on U.S.
employment a day after the Dow Jones industrials and Standard Poor's 500, riding some optimism about the housing market, rose to their highest levels since a global pullback Feb. 27. In the first hour of trading, the Dow fell 5.
28, or 0.04 percent, to 12,505.02.
Broader stock indicators slipped. The Standard Poor's 500 index fell 1.88, or 0.
13 percent, to 1,435.89, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 0.39, or 0.
02 percent, to 2,449.94. Bonds rose, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note falling to 4.
65 percent from 4.67 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.
Light, sweet crude fell 92 cents to $63.72 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
in February.
Wall Street had been expecting a reading of 54.7. Figures above 50 indicate expansion.
March represents the 48th consecutive month of growth in the non-manufacturing industries. Also, new orders placed with U.S.
factories for manufactured goods rose by 1 percent in February. Economists had been expecting an increase of 1.9 percent.
Investors appeared unimpressed with a report from payroll-services company Automatic Data Processing Inc. and consultancy Macroeconomic Advisers reported that predicts an increase of 106,000 private jobs in March. That came in below economists' expectations for an increase of 150,000 jobs.
In corporate news, Best Buy Co. rose 45 cents to $49.58 after reporting its fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose nearly 19 percent.
Rival Circuit City Stores Inc. posted an unexpected loss because of sluggish sales growth - especially in its flat-panel televisions. Circuit City, the No.
2 electronics chain behind Best Buy, fell 13 cents to $18.15. In other corporate news, automakers will remain in focus as DaimlerChrysler AG Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said the automaker is in talks with potential buyers for its Chrysler unit.
He would not elaborate on who was involved in the talks. There is also speculation that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase Co.
have been hired by private equity firm Apollo Management LP about a possible public offering, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apollo would follow a move by rival Blackstone Group LP to raise $4 billion with a stock market debut. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 5 to 4 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 157.
4 million shares. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 2.85, or 0.
35 percent, to 808.92. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed up 1.
74 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.11 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 1.
56 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.20 percent.
Keywords: Wall Street, New York, Circuit City, Standard Poor, Best Buy
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