US close: Jobs fillip fades

Date: Saturday 06 Oct 2012

US stocks received a boost from better than expected US jobless figures but the fillip proved to be only temporary, as investors banked profits ahead of the third quarter earnings season.

The unemployment rate fell from 8.1% to 7.8% in September compared to a market consensus estimate of 8.2%. The unemployment rate has not been this low since January 2009.

Non-agricultural jobs added, a key indicator, came in at 114,000, slightly topping the 113,000 expected. Furthermore, the previous month’s figure was revised higher from 96,000 to 142,000.

The U6, a much broader measure of unemployment that takes into account people who have stopped looking for work, stood at 14.7% in September, unchanged from August.

Government hiring recovered a little (+10,000), prompting Barclays Research to note that: “This represents the first time government sector payrolls expanded for three consecutive months since the census hiring in 2010 and signals to us that the belt-tightening of state and local governments is starting to ease [as opposed to being a one-off].”

The length of the average work-week came in as expected, at 34.5 hours, while earnings per hour were actually slightly better than forecast.

Barclays' view of labour market dynamics differs markedly from the Fed and other economic forecasters. "Our view is that demographic and other factors mean that the economy needs to generate only 75-100k jobs a month to keep the unemployment rate steady,” analysts at the bank said.

Less of a zinger

Zynga, the fading social network gaming giant, plummeted after the company lowered its full-year forecast. This had a knock-on effect on Facebookm which derives a healthy chunk of revenue from Zynga's customers. A negative research note out from analysts at JP Morgan on Facebook did not help matters for the social networking phenomenon.

Wine merchant Constellation Brands, on the other hand, rose following its quarterly results. Post-tax profits were down 23% year-on-year but were higher than the market had been expected.

Avon scrubs up well

Shareholders in cosmetics firm Avon had their happy faces on as executive Chairman Andrea Jung announced she would be quitting the job sooner than expected, packing away her make-up bag for the last time at the end of this year.

She will be replaced by Avon board member Fred Hassan, the former boss of Schering-Plough, the pharmaceutical group that is now part of Merck.

Analysts at Oppenheimer have downgraded biotechnology company Biogen to "neutral", from "outperform". Meanwhile, Sterne Agee has lowered its view on PC and laser printer maker Hewlett Packard to "neutral" from "buy".

Crude futures at lowest level in a week

West Texas intermediate for November delivery fell $1.83 to $89.98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

Gold futures also took the low road. The December contract tumbled $15.70 to $1,780.80 an ounce.

The US jobs data sapped enthusiasm for bonds. The yield on 10-year US Treasuries dipped to 1.74% from 1.76% overnight, having fallen as low as 1.71% in the morning session.

S&P 500 - Risers
Avon Products Inc. (AVP) $17.39 +7.21%
Owens-Illinois Inc. (OI) $20.21 +4.39%
Constellation Brands Inc. Class A (STZ) $36.20 +4.26%
Genworth Financial Inc. (GNW) $5.39 +3.45%
GameStop Corp. (GME) $23.08 +3.17%
Sealed Air Corp. (SEE) $15.91 +3.11%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $57.03 +2.98%
Eastman Chemical Co. (EMN) $59.13 +2.83%
Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW) $31.77 +2.65%
Dollar Tree Stores Inc. (DLTR) $48.07 +2.60%

S&P 500 - Fallers
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $20.07 -11.00%
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) $280.93 -4.45%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $71.57 -4.13%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $103.43 -3.72%
MeadWestvaco Corp. (MWV) $30.45 -2.40%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $13.30 -2.35%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $6.58 -2.23%
Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) $31.89 -2.21%
Range Resources Corp. (RRC) $69.03 -2.18%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $652.59 -2.13%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $63.20 +2.36%
Boeing Co. (BA) $70.89 +1.36%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $50.35 +1.21%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $14.73 -1.41%
AT&T Inc. (T) $37.86 -1.25%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $57.03 +2.98%
Dollar Tree Stores Inc. (DLTR) $48.07 +2.60%
Dell Inc. (DELL) $9.66 +2.06%
Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $101.19 +1.67%
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $29.10 +1.54%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $32.26 +1.51%
Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) $6.11 +1.50%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $27.79 +1.13%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $66.10 +1.07%
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) $59.53 +1.07%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) $22.13 -6.36%
Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) $71.57 -4.13%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $103.43 -3.72%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $13.30 -2.35%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $652.59 -2.13%
Infosys Technologies Ltd. (INFY) $48.75 -1.81%
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) $31.39 -1.58%
Expedia Inc. (EXPE) $57.60 -1.57%
eBay Inc. (EBAY) $48.73 -1.54%
NetApp Inc. (NTAP) $30.59 -1.45%


JH

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