Mini Climb for US Stocks; First Gains in a Week

All three major indexes ended in the green on Thursday for the first time in more than week as the wave of selling that has slammed Wall Street appears to have lost some momentum.

Stocks edged higher Thursday, with all the major indexes rising in the single digits. Investors encouraged by better-than-expected results from aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. put money into stocks they recently avoided: commodities producers, banks and industrial companies.
Money also moved into more economically sensitive industries such as technology and energy, which stand to gain more if a recovery takes hold. And it came out of defensive shares such as consumer staples and health care stocks -- a positive sign for a market that has been losing hope for a quick recovery.

Investors' selective buying Thursday was a sign they are hesitant to resume the ebullient rally that drove market indicators up as much as 40 percent during the spring. Stocks started to falter in mid-June as several grim economic reports suggested that a recovery was much further away than anticipated. Major market indexes are down about 7 percent since June 12.

Analysts expect the market will make little headway until investors have a clearer picture from companies of where the economy is headed. Second-quarter earnings reports are just starting, and will begin to come out in earnest next week.
Today's Markets
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 4.76 points, or 0.06%, to 8183.17, the Standard & Poor's 500 added 3.12 points, or 0.35%, to 882.68 and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 5.38 point, or 0.31%, to 1752.55. About three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 4.3 billion shares, compared with 5.9 billion Wednesday.The mostly flat trading session on Wall Street comes amid a bearish stretch for the markets that has erased more than 300 points from the Dow in just a week.

But with a pair of late-day climbs the last two days, the bulls have at least stemmed the bleeding. “It appears the sellers have run out of ammunition. But that doesn’t mean they can’t run out to the woodshed and find some,” said NSYE trader Jason Weisberg of Seaport Securities.

The markets were shoved in one direction or the other throughout the trading day amid a series of opposing storylines.

On the one hand, the government said initial jobless claims tumbled to their lowest level since January, the U.S. completed another successful bond auction and Alcoa (AA: 9.2199, -0.2601, -2.74%) started earnings season off with a beat. On the other hand, retailers posted more disappointing sales results and crude oil, viewed as a barometer for the economy, managed just a slim rebound from a six-day slide.

“We’re very lackluster right now. Volume is still low but the volatility isn’t there,” said Jonathan Corpina, senior managing partner at Meridian Equity Partners. “There are some players sitting on the sideline waiting for this market to move in one particular direction. I think we’re going to continue to stay like this until” earnings season picks up next week.
Underscoring the lack of volatility, the Dow moved just 83 points between its high and low on Thursday, the fourth-smallest trading range of the year.

Wall Street was led higher Thursday by energy and financial stocks also bounced back from Wednesday's selloff.

Data Dump
The markets had little reaction to the latest report on business inventories, which showed wholesalers cut supplies by 0.8% in May, slightly less than economists expected. The report, which measures excess supply, showed distributors are still cutting back on inventories to counter slumping demand.

Crude Oil

Oil prices rose after six days of selling. Crude rose 27 cents to settle at $60.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A little over a week ago, crude prices stood at $73 a barrel. Falling oil had been pressuring markets around the world in recent days.

Global Markets
European markets were up across the board as London's FTSE 100 rose 0.45% to 4158.66, France's CAC 40gained 0.54% to 3025.90 and Germany's DAX advanced 1.26% to 4630.07.
Asian markets ended mixed overnight as Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.38% to 9291.06, Hong Kong's Hang Sengclimbed 0.39% to 17790.59 and China's Shanghai Composite rallied 1.37% to 3123.04.