WALL STREET CLOSES HIGHER AS NEW QUARTER BEGINS

Skip navigation
msnbc.com home

*
* MSN Home |
* Mail
* More
o Hotmail
o Messenger
o My MSN
o MSN Directory
o Air Tickets/Travel
o Autos
o Careers & Jobs
o City Guides
o Dating & Personals
o Election 2008
o Games
o Green
o Health & Fitness
o Horoscopes
o Lifestyle
o Maps & Directions
o Money
o Movies
o Music
o News
o Real Estate/Rentals
o Shopping
o Spaces
o Sports
o Tech & Gadgets
o TV
o Weather
o White Pages
o Yellow Pages
* Sign In
* msn.com

* featuring
* Today Show
* Nightly News
* Dateline
* Meet the Press
* MSNBC TV
* NBC Sports

* Business
* Stocks & economy

sponsored by
Categories
U.S. news
World news
Politics
Business
Stocks & economy
U.S. business
World business
Autos
Real estate
Retail
Careers
Personal finance
Small business
Viewpoints
Sports
Entertainment
Health
Tech & science
Travel
Weather
Local news
Browse
Video
Photos
Community
Disable Fly-outWhat are flyouts?

* Marketplace
* Shoppingvia MSNBC Shopping
* MSN Datingvia Match & Chemistry
* Start a businessEntrepreneur.com
* Homes for Salevia HomePages.com
* Investments $7 online stock trades
* Career Centervia Monster
* Autosvia MSN Autos

Wall Street closes higher as new quarter begins
Mix of news makes it clear the country is still deep in economic problems
Market update
Index

Last

Change



% change
• DJIA 11382.26 +32.25 +0.28%
• NASDAQ 2304.97 unch 0.00%
• S&P 500 1284.91 unch 0.00%
Enter company symbol • Look up symbol
Sponsored by Scottrade: Switch and get up to $100!
Data: MSN Money and ComStock
Latest interest rates
Click for up-to-the-minute rates:
CDs and investments
Mortgages
Home equity loans
Auto loans

Rates provided by Bankrate.com
Overseas markets
SYMBOL

LAST

CHANGE



% CHANGE
FTSE (London) 5479.90 unch 0.00%
DAX (Frankfurt) 6315.94 unch 0.00%
Nikkei 225 (Tokyo) 13299.02 -164.18 -1.22%
Enter company symbol Look up symbol
Data: MSN Money and ComStock
updated 5:34 p.m. ET July 1, 2008

NEW YORK - Wall Street began the third quarter with an erratic session and modest gain Tuesday after a mix of news made it clear the country is still deep in economic problems but may have some positive trends — including some better than expected sales for General Motors Corp.

Prices rose early in the session, then turned sharply lower for much of the day and then recovered in late afternoon. The uneven performance wasn't surprising — some bargain hunting was to be expected after a dismal first half, and in particular, a dismal June.

The session brought more discouraging news for investors: Oil rose again toward record high levels, a report showed that U.S. manufacturers are still under duress and Ford Motor Co. said its June sales tumbled. This all raised the market's fears that the economy — still reeling from soaring commodities prices and the lingering credit crisis — is not any closer to turning around.
Story continues below ↓advertisement

Yet GM's sales, while falling 18.2 percent during June, came in above analysts' forecasts, retaining Detroit's lead over Toyota Motor Corp. and sending the automaker's shares higher. GM's news was in sharp contrast to the dismal results reported earlier by Ford Motor Co., where a 27.9 percent plunge in sales for the month sent the company's stock to its lowest point in decades.

And while the Institute for Supply Management had an overall disappointing report on manufacturing in June, it also reported strong exports for U.S. factories.

NOTE: DETRICK OPTIMISTIC AMIDST CRISIS.

"This market is craving anything positive," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. He said because the market has sold off so much in recent days, traders took GM's weak but better-than-expected sales as a buying opportunity

The Dow Jones industrial average, down more than 150 points earlier, rose 32.25, or 0.28 percent, to 11,382.26, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.91, or 0.38 percent, to 1,284.91. The Nasdaq composite gained 11.99, or 0.52 percent, to 2,304.97.

"A bounce like this wasn't unexpected," said Joseph V. Battipaglia, chief investment officer at Ryan Beck & Co. He said GM's sales beating Toyota gave the Dow a lift, as did a late-day partial pullback in oil prices.

Oil settled at a new record of $140.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising above $143 a barrel earlier as worries about tight supply and mounting tensions in the Middle East continued.

NOTE: SOARING PRICE INCREASE OF OIL AFFECTS MAJORITY.

News moving the markets
Oil prices close at a new record near $141
GM bests Toyota in a dismal sales month
Exports fueled June manufacturing growth
"We've been dancing to the tune to oil prices," Battipaglia said.

Bonds also bounced up and down as investors pulled money out of stocks, seeking the safety of government debt, and then changed their minds. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.01 percent from late Monday's 3.98 percent.

Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist for Standard & Poor's Equity Research, said investors may be wondering if the market has sold off too much even in the face of a litany of bad economic news. "Maybe it's just at this kind of a juncture that everything looks so bad, who's left to sell?"

The market may also have gotten a technical kick upward, when the S&P 500 fell to 1,260.68, its lowest point since July 2006. When the index, the one most closely followed by market professionals, falls to a target level set by traders, buyers tend to come back to stocks. Volume was light, and that also likely contributed to the price swings.
CONTINUED: "We continue to stretch and stretch"
1 | 2 | Next >

* Discuss StoryOn Newsvine
* Rate Story:
View popularLow
Rate it 0.5
Rate it 1
Rate it 1.5
Rate it 2
Rate it 2.5
Rate it 3
Rate it 3.5
Rate it 4
Rate it 4.5
Rate it 5
High
3 after 22401 ratings
* Email
* Instant Message
* Print

MORE FROM STOCKS & ECONOMY


Oil prices close at a new record near $141
Stocks close higher as new quarter begins
Oil prices close at a new record near $141
Exports fueled June manufacturing growth
Iraq opens oil fields for international bidding
Oil creates 'overnight millionaires' in N.D.
Giant Saudi field is key to boosting oil output
Holiday week likely won't cheer up investors
$2.1 million bid for lunch with Buffett
Report: Iran will use oil as weapon if attacked
You may be driving up the price of oil
Stocks & economy Section Front

Add Stocks & economy headlines to your news reader:

Add to MyMSNAdd to My Yahoo!Subscribe with Bloglines
• More RSS feeds from MSNBC.com
Top msnbc.com stories
Hezbollah link to Iraq militia alleged
Suspect in 8 Midwest murders caught
Poll: Gas prices change energy views
Military service: No campaign asset?
For hosts, Olympics lose some luster
NBC News highlights
Stop summer brain drain in your kids
Gallery: Your inspirational athletes
Gorgeous gear for grilling
Yuppies with a social conscience
Vote: Who was your favorite Batman?
SPONSORED LINKS Get listed here



Sponsored links


Resource guide