By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks cleared much of their losses, with the consumer-discretionary sector leading the way, after jobs data and results from retailers helped lift sentiment Thursday.
The turn higher comes a day after one of the worst sessions for equities so far this year.
“We think the jobs market continues to strengthen; and you’re getting sales data from individual stores today, and it looks like companies are blowing out March, on top of a much-stronger-than-expected February, so the consumer appears to be in pretty good shape,” said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors.
Discounter Target Corp. TGT +1.07% and department-store operator Macy’s Inc. M +0.31% were among those reporting better-than-expected monthly results. Read more about March shopping .
Ahead of the open, stock-index futures eased their fall after weekly jobs claims came in slightly better than expected. Read story on jobless claims.
“Since last August or September, we’ve had the best six-month stretch we’ve seen in the jobs market in about six years,” said Orlando.
Given the S&P 500’s 12% advance in the first quarter, the market was “absolutely” in need of a pause, and concerns about Europe, and in particular Spain’s escalated borrowing costs, provided a minor catalyst said Orlando.
A decline in Spanish bond prices furthered worries about Europe’s ability to stem its debt crisis in the premarket.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA -0.03% advanced 3.48 points to 13,078.20, with 17 of 30 components in the green.
The S&P 500 SPX +0.02% rose 1.08 point to 1,400.04, with consumer-discretionary faring best and defensive sectors doing most poorly
The Nasdaq composite COMP +0.29% added 10.03 points to 3,078.12.
Advancers and decliners ran nearly even on the New York Stock Exchange, where 216 million shares traded as of 11:25 a.m. Eastern.
The Labor Department reported claims for unemployment benefits dropped by 6,000 to 357,000 last week. The more stable four-week average declined to 361,750 from 366,000.
Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report from the Labor Department is projected to show an increase of 200,000, according to economists polled by MarketWatch.
“We think the number is going to be fine,” said Orlando at Federated, which is forecasting a rise of 225,000 in Friday’s report
