New York - US stocks were mixed Friday after an opening 1- per-cent surge boosted by good news on the employment front as the US government reported fewer jobs were lost in May than had been expected. But concern that higher borrowing costs will threaten the economic recovery overshadowed the good news on the labour front, with JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co shedding at least 1.5 per cent, Bloomberg financial news agency reported.
Boeing Co jumped 4.1 per cent, and Bank of America bucked the trend in financial stocks as it raised its earnings estimates, boosting the Dow Jones higher and helping the index almost erase its 2009 losses.
US companies shed 345,000 jobs in May, the smallest drop in eight months and a sign that the recession may be easing, but the unemployment rate still jumped half a percentage point to 9.4 per cent, the Labour Department said Friday.
The United States has now lost 6 million jobs since the country's worst recession since the 1930s began in December 2007. The monthly data was far better than economists had expected: A survey by Bloomberg predicted 520,000 jobs would be cut during the month.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 12.89 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 8,763.13. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 2.37 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 940.09. The technology- heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.60 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 1,849.42.
The dollar gained against the euro to 71.59 euro cents from 70.50 euro cents on Thursday. The dollar also rose against the Japanese currency to 98.64 yen from 96.69 yen on Thursday.
