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US close: Steady gains before AIG shocker

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Date: Thursday 08 May 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - US stocks made gentle gains as miners and oil stocks moved higher, though sales figures from the retail sector were mixed.

Dow Jones closed up 52 at 12,866. Nasdaq added 12 at 2,451 while the S&P 500 ended 5 higher at 1,397.

Retailers releasing their April sales figures showed a mixed batch of performances. Wal-Mart saw same-store sales increase 3.2% in April while discount retailer Costco saw a solid 8% sales gain, which beat forecast of a 6.1% increase.

Department store JC Penney didn';t do as well with same-store sales down 1.7% in April. Target said April same-store sales rose 3.1%, missing forecasts for a rise of 4.5%.

Manitowoc picked up on its agreed bid for UK restaurant equipment maker Enodis was trumped by a higher offer from Illinois Tool Works.

Insurance giant AIG lost over $7.8bn in its fiscal first quarter and is looking for $12.5bn in additonal capital to rescue its balance sheet. The figres reflected a $9.1bn hit on credit default swaps. After hours AIG shares were down 10%.

Pipelines company El Paso moved into profit in the first quarter. The company reported first quarter earnings per share of 29 cents compared with a loss of 8 cents per share in the corresponding period of last year

Elsewhere, weekly dole claimants fell by 18,000 last week to 365,000, while wholesale inventories fell 0.1% in March, missing forecasts for growth of 0.5%. February's reading was revised down to growth of 0.9% from 1.1%.