New York Local and Regional News

The stock market drifted Friday as traders did some quarterly housekeeping and moved into technology stocks after two of the industry’s big names said business was improving.After a volatile morning, the market began to settle out in afternoon trading as more investors looked to close their books for the year. Trading will be shortened next week because of the Christmas holiday on Friday.The day began with a frenzy of buying and selling as several types of options contracts expired. Volatility was also high as several stocks were added to or dropped from the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, a widely used benchmark and the basis for many indexed mutual funds.Analysts said the choppy trading was related mainly to technical factors and made it difficult draw conclusions about any changes in investor sentiment.In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.64, or less than 0.1%, to 10,305.62, after dropping 133 points Thursday.The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite index added 1%.Technology shares got a lift from software company Oracle Corp. and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., which each reported earnings that topped analysts’ expectations.The better results at Oracle, which makes software for large businesses, suggested that companies are becoming more willing to spend on technology projects. Research In Motion increased profits as it added subscribers and record sales of its smartphones. Palm Inc., however, reported a wider second-quarter loss than analysts predicted as sales fell.”With options expiration, with people looking to square up positions, it’s not surprising that there are markets going in inconsistent directions,” said Jerry Webman, chief economist at OppenheimerFunds Inc. “The stock market is flittering around.”Stocks had tumbled on Thursday as the dollar spiked on worries about debt problems in Europe. A higher dollar can cut into profits of U.S. companies that do business overseas.Christian Bendixen, director of technical research at Bay Crest Partners in New York, expects stocks will push higher until early next year even as the dollar climbs. A rise in the dollar could crimp profits of U.S. companies but could also signal growing confidence in the U.S. economy.”In the short term, the dollar and equities can rally together,” he said.Next week, investors will be looking to reports on home sales, consumer sentiment and demand for durable manufactured goods. Analysts have been looking for clues about the strength of holiday sales since spending accounts for a majority of U.S. economic activity.Bond prices fell, pushing their yields higher, as investors moved back into stocks following Thursday’s slide. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.53% from 3.48% late Thursday.The dollar mostly rose against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.Crude oil rose $1.06 to $73.71 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.Among tech stocks, Oracle rose $1.43, or 6.3%, to $24.31, while Research in Motion rose $6.38, or 10%, to $69.84. Palm tumbled $1.82, or 15.5%, to $9.90.Falling stocks narrowly outpaced those that rose at the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.2 billion shares compared with 940.3 million shares traded at the same point Thursday.Trading volume was heavy because of the occurrence of a quarterly “quadruple witching,” which marks the simultaneous expiration of four kinds of options and futures contracts.The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 2.13, or 0.4%, to 606.38.

Carp Fishing Secrets.
The carp angler’s bible! Over 270 pages of carp fishing advice from the home of carp fishing. Carp Fishing Secrets. – Jumping on people is an unwanted behaviour that dogs do. It can lead to muddy paws making a mess on your clothes; your clothes being ripped or scratches on children’s faces. Smaller dogs [...]

Jobless Wall Streeters sour on finance careers
The scent of money that drew many professionals to jobs on Wall Street has been dissipating, according to a survey of out-of-work finance folk released Wednesday.The survey of financial job-seekers, conducted by financial recruiting service OneWire.com, showed that 41% of those polled said they no longer believe finance to be as desirable a career path as they once did. Contrast that to the firm’s June survey, when 84% of respondents said they would still choose a career in finance if given the chance to “start over” in their professional lives.OneWire.com attributes the disparity to the different phrasing of the questions in the survey—and to the proposed caps on bonuses and pay packages that have been floating around Congress recently.In the December survey, 79% of respondents admitted that their job search is taking longer than they thought it would, though two-thirds of the job seekers were confident they’d land a job within the next six months.That self-assurance, among a cohort of highly self-assured people, has slipped somewhat. Six months ago, three-quarters of those surveyed expected to land a job within six months.“This is an incredibly competitive group of people,” said OneWire.com Chairman Skiddy von Stade, who sees the data in a positive light, pointing out that despite the ongoing financial crisis, 67% of folks are still looking for jobs in finance. “They’re smart. They will be successful no matter what.”To wit, 39% of the jobseekers said they are now willing to settle for “anything related to their field,” while 57% said they’d even be willing to take a finance job that pays less than their most recent job.But Mr. von Stade said there’s evidence pay is increasing. Salary guarantees are back en vogue, he says, as smaller broker-dealers and hedge funds are starting up at a quick clip.“Smaller boutique investment banks are definitely hiring right now,” he said, adding that in addition to restructuring, which has been growing all year, both leveraged finance firms and mergers and acquisitions groups seem to be hiring.The survey also shows that some vestiges of Wall Street bravado never fade away: fully 58% of those surveyed in December said they expected the total compensation of their next job (the one they expect to land over the next six months, of course) to be equal to or higher than their last job. Six months ago, when hiring was even bleaker and banks seemed even more troubled, that number was the same.“What can I say, these people are naturally and inherently confident,” Mr. von Stade said.

Comments are closed.