LONDON (ShareCast) - US shares are holding steady, despite slightly worse than expected jobless figures.

US non-farm payrolls declined by 62,000 in June, following an upwards revised 62,000 fall in May. The decline was larger than expected; analysts had been predicting a fall in the range of 40,000 to 60,000 but added that it was unlikely the Federal reserve would aggressively raise interest rates while so many jobs were being cut.

The major indices go their separate ways with the Dow Jones 30 up 57 at 11,273. The S&P 500 is unchanged at 1,261 and the NASDAQ Composite is down 8 points to 2,242.

Graphics chip maker Nvidia lost around a quarter of its value early on after it said late Wednesday that it has lowered its second-quarter revenue outlook due to the global consumer weakness. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which owns the other major graphics chip designer, ATI, fell by about 3%.

Elsewhere in the tech sector, Yahoo! is wanted after the Wall Street Journal claimed the internet search portal is in deal talks with Time Warner.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs has been taking the knife to its health insurer forecasts, cutting Health Net to “sell” from “neutral” and also downgrading Aetna to “sell”.

• News Channel