NEW YORK, April 4 (UPI) -- Stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market ended mixed Friday, digesting news of continued weakness in the job market on the one hand and the further advancement of U.S. troops in Iraq on the other.
The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average gained 36.77 points, or 0.45 percent, to close at 8,277.25, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index dropped 13.09 points, or 0.94 percent, to close at 1,383.49.
The broader New York Stock Exchange composite index added 27.76 points to close at 4,898.05, the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 2.40 points to close at 878.85, the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 6.36 points to close at 820.00, and the Wilshire 5000 gained 11.43 points to close at 8,319.99.
Volume was 1.46 billion on the Big Board and 1.32 billion on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.
Earlier in the day, the Labor Department reported that while the U.S. unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8 percent in March, the job market remains weak as U.S. payrolls fell by 108,000.
The department also reported that total non-farm payroll employment in February, meanwhile, tumbled 357,000, after an initial estimate of 308,000.
"This news only serves to underscore the need for Congress to pass the president's growth package as soon as possible to ensure that every American who wants a job can find one," said Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.
Chao estimated that the president's proposal would create as many as 1.4 million new jobs.
The department said that the biggest job declines were in the manufacturing and retail trade sectors, as well as the government. Construction jobs, on the other hand, saw a slight increase.
But the manufacturing sector continues to struggle, having peaked most recently in April 1998, and losing a cumulative 2.5 million jobs since then.
Even government jobs, which have usually been seen as steady employment opportunities at times of economic doldrums, have been falling.
"Over the past two years, government employment trended upward, while private sector employment trended downward. Recently, budget problems have lowered the rate of job growth in state and local government," the Labor Department reported. Indeed, government employment lost 40,000 in March.
Meanwhile, average hourly earnings inched up 0.1 percent in March to $15.10, after increasing by 0.6 percent in February. At the same time, the number of hours worked in the private sector rose to 34.3 hours from 34.1 hours in February.
At the same time, some brokerage houses cut their forecast for the global economic outlook in light of continuing geopolitical risks as well as the outbreak of the SARS epidemic in Asia.
"We are cutting our baseline estimate of 2003 world GDP growth from 2.5 percentage to 2.4 percentage. We and others have long viewed 2.5 percentage world GDP growth as the official recession threshold for the global economy," stated Morgan Stanley's research group.
Investors were, however, comforted by reports that U.S. troops continue to advance into Baghdad, as Wall Street continues to monitor the war against Iraq closely.
Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury prices dropped. The 10-year bond fell 8/32 to 99 13/32. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction of its price, rose to 3.95 percent from 3.93 percent Thursday.
In Europe, stock prices are up in all three major bourses. The London International Stock Exchange's blue-chip FTSE-100 index is up 43.30 points at 3,814.40. The German DAX index is 65.18 points higher at 2,634.99 and the French CAC-40 index is up 49.27 points at 2,837.96.
In Asia, short covering ahead of the weekend helped the various markets to finish the last day of the week in the black.
New reports U.S. troops had occupied parts of Saddam International Airport near Baghdad fueled hopes the war could end soon.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.7 percent, with exporters leading the way higher as the dollar strengthened on hope of a conclusion to the war soon.
In Taiwan, the main index closed up 3.2 percent to 4499.18, while the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished up 2.34 percent at 558.01 points.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index rose 0.86 percent at 1,313.73, and shares rose in Hong Kong, with the blue-chip Hang Seng Index up 2 percent at 8822.45 on short covering.
The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 2.7 percent at 1090.66, while in Jakarta, the composite index gained 1.23 percent at 405.68 points, while the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange composite index rose 0.39 percent to finish at 631.02 points.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand composite index finished up 1.87 percent at 371.93 points.
