US stocks make modest gains

NEW YORK: US stocks clocked modest gains Friday after a positive job report confirmed an improvement in the ailing labor market and Greece struck a private-debt deal to avert a near-term default.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 14.08 points (0.11 per cent) to finish the week at 12,922.02.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 4.96 points (0.36 per cent) to 1,370.87, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 17.92 points (0.60 per cent) to 2,988.34.

In its keenly anticipated monthly report, the Labor Department said the US economy added a net 227,000 jobs in February, well above expectations, and the unemployment rate held at 8.3 per cent, a three-year low.

"The February employment data were strong. The data indicate that US economic growth remains solid (apart from government expenditures)," Dick Green at Briefing.com said in a research note.

But at the same time Commerce Department figures showed the US trade gap widened sharply in January, to US$52.6 billion, about half of it due to the swelling shortfall with China.

That was seen as a negative for the economy.

"The US will suck in goods from abroad while others don't grow and US exporters will face stagnant conditions overseas, stymieing efforts to make inroads," said Robert Brusca at FAO Economics.

Wall Street had opened higher, extending a strong rally Thursday on rising hopes that Greece would reach a crucial private-sector debt swap, the biggest in history.

But gains took a hit in the afternoon after the International Swaps and Derivatives Association declared Greece's debt deal a "credit event," triggering $3.2 billion in payment of credit default swaps to investors in Greek bonds.

Shares in computer chip giant Texas Instruments shed 1.0 per cent after cutting its first-quarter earnings and sales estimates, citing lower demand for wireless products.

Starbucks perked up interest. Shares jumped 2.9 per cent after the company announced late Thursday it would launch a branded single-cup coffee machine, dubbed Verismo, later this year.

But the news hammered Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, maker of the Keurig single-cup coffee machine, whose shares plunged 15.7 per cent.

Up to now Starbucks has been producing its branded coffee pods only for the Keurig machines.

Sprint Nextel, the country's third largest wireless operator, jumped 6.9 per cent after a broker report said its subscriber growth was picking up at a cost to rivals AT&T and T-Mobile. -- AFP