Wall Street ended a winning, holiday-shortened week with a quiet advance on Thursday as investors awaited the release of employment figures for last month and remained cautiously optimistic after their recent buying streak. For the week, the major indexes showed gains each day and returned to positive territory for the year.
There was a subdued tone to trading on Thursday as investors adjusted portfolios ahead of a three-day weekend; the stock market was closed for Good Friday. Investors were particularly careful because they won't be able to trade on Friday's US Labor Department's employment report until the stock market reopens tomorrow morning.
There was little reaction to the department's report that first-time claims for unemployment benefits rose to their highest weekly level since March 3, which indicated companies might be struggling to cope with sluggish growth in the national economy.
Thursday marked the Dow's sixth straight session of gains, its biggest streak of advances since November. The blue-chip average spent the first half of Thursday's session in negative territory before moving higher at about midday.
"The market went up on fumes this week," said Philip Dow, managing director of equity strategy at RBC Dain Rauscher.
"Nobody has any wild expectations to the positive for the jobs report. But, barring some kind of negative report, I still think we'll see the market tread water," he said.
The Dow rose 30.15, or 0.24 percent, to 12,560.20.
Broader stock indicators also made gains. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.39, or 0.31 percent, to 1,443.76, and the NASDAQ composite index advanced 12.65, or 0.51 percent, to 2,471.34.
For the week, the Dow rose 0.78 percent, the S&P 500 gained 1.8 percent and the NASDAQ composite index advanced 2.3 percent. The Dow added more than 100 points on Tuesday after a stronger-than-expected report on sales of existing homes helped shore up investors' confidence in the economy.
US Treasury bond prices tumbled and stock futures rose in holiday-shortened trading on Friday after the unemployment rate fell to a five-month low, signaling that the economy could be stronger than expected.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note surged to 4.75 percent -- its highest level since mid-February -- from 4.68 percent late on Thursday. Yields move in the opposite direction of bond prices.
The bond market closed at 11am EDT for Good Friday; stock and many other financial markets were closed on Friday.
Stock futures trading pits were closed on Friday, but electronically traded Standard & Poor's 500 index futures expiring in June rose 5.3 points, or 0.36 percent, to 1,458.00, while NASDAQ 100 index futures advanced 10.5 points, or 0.57 percent, to 1,838.75.
Oil prices settled down slightly a day after a modest ease in global political tensions. Prices had advanced in recent weeks in part amid unease over Iran's now-ended detention of British sailors and marines. Investors are now focused on energy inventories and demand, and sent a barrel of light, sweet crude down US$0.10 to US$64.28 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Some order was restored to the market this week after a series of volatile sessions last week.
"The market continues to fluctuate in a narrow range. I don't expect a big move in either direction because I think the economy has slowed but the slowdown is proving very mild," said Stuart Schweitzer, global markets strategist for JPMorgan Private Bank. He said that inflation remained higher than the Federal Reserve would like, likely keeping the central bank from lowering short-term interest rates.
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