US stocks finished with mild gains on Friday as investors reacted to mixed economic data. Shares also rose as investors welcomed a rally in commodity and technology stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 10.05 points or 0.10% to finish at 10,012.23. The S&P 500 added 3.07 points or 0.29% to close at 1,066.18. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 15.69 points or 0.74% to 2,141.12.
A release by Department of Labor on Friday showed that U.S. employers slashed 20,000 net jobs in January. Economists were expecting a rise of 15,000 in non-farm payrolls. Unemployment rate decreased to 9.7%, compared to consensus estimates of 10%.
US Federal Reserve reported Friday that consumer credit fell by an annual rate of 0.8% or a seasonally adjusted $1.73 billion. Economists expected the consumer credit to decline by $9 billion.
Shares of Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:
AA), the largest US aluminum maker, rallied 27 cents or 2.09% to $13.18.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:
CSCO) surged 54 cents or 2.33% to $23.70. Shares of Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:
INTC) jumped 45 cents or 2.37% to $19.47.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:
BAC) jumped 25 cents or 1.69% to $15.
On the downside, General Electric Co. (NYSE:
GE) lost 25 cents or 1.56% to 15.79.
Shares of Boeing Co. (NYSE:
BA) plunged 92 cents or 1.55% to $58.40.
McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:
MCD) fell 69 cents or 1.08% to $63.37.
Early on Friday Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE:
TSN) said that it swung to a fourth-quarter profit of $160 million, or 42 cents a share, compared to a loss of $102 million, or 27 cents a share, in the comparable quarter last year. Revenue increased to $6.64 billion from $6.52 billion. Shares of the company soared 66 cents or 4.72% to $14.65.
Shares of Aetna Inc.(NYSE:
AET) rose38 cents or 1.30% to $29.61 after it announced that its fourth-quarter net income fell to $165.9 million, or $0.38 per share, compared with $194.7 million, or $0.42 per share, in the prior-year period. Revenue rose to $8.76 billion from $7.76 billion in the comparable period.
American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. (NYSE:
AXL) reported Friday that it swung to a fourth-quarter profit of $48.6 million, or 80 cents a share, from a loss of $112.1 million, or $2.17 a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue decreased to $464 million from $503 million. Shares of the auto-parts maker plummeted $1 or 10.62% to $8.42.
On Friday, the president of Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:
TM), Akio Toyoda, apologized for the quality problems that led to the recall of more than nine million vehicles worldwide, and pledged the Japanese automaker would soon announce steps to address brake problems on the 2010 Prius. Shares of the automaker surged $2.93 or 4.08% to $74.71.
European stocks settled down. The UK FTSE fell 78.39 points or 1.53% to 5,060.92. The German DAX and French CAC decreased 1.79% and 3.40% respectively.
Asian stocks tumbled. The Nikkei 225 slumped 298.89 points or 2.89% to 10,355.98. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong plummeted 676.56 points or 3.33% to 19,665.08.
NYMEX crude oil for March delivery declined $1.95 or 2.7% to $71.19 a barrel .
Disclosure: Author doesn't own any of the stocks discussed here.
