NEW YORK - Wall Street showed some reassuring signs of stability Friday, closing mostly higher despite the biggest monthly decline in jobs in five years. The major indexes ended the first four sessions of the second quarter with a healthy advance.
While some nervous investors fled to government bonds, the report, showing the economy gave up 80,000 jobs last month, appeared to simply confirm many investors' assumptions of a widespread economic slowdown.
Although the job losses, the most since March 2003, are indeed a significant sign of economic weakness, a lackluster report was widely expected, and some investors were relieved the total was not higher.
Payrolls for January and February were revised lower by a total of 67,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate shot up to 5.1 percent, the highest since September 2005. The economy has given up about 232,000 jobs in the first three months of this year, and the latest report adds fuel to the belief of many economists that the U.S. is in a recession.
The market's next big test is likely to come with the release of first-quarter earnings reports in the coming weeks. Investors will be particularly keen to know what companies' outlooks are for the rest of this year -- if they are disappointing, Wall Street could see a return of the punishing volatility of the past few months.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 16.61, or 0.13 percent, to 12,609.42, in part because of a decline in General Motors Corp. stock.
Broader stock indicators edged higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 1.09, or 0.08 percent, to 1,370.40, and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 7.68, or 0.32 percent, to 2,370.98.
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