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| Currency | US Dollar |
|---|---|
| British Pound to US Dollar | 1.821494 |
| Euro to US Dollar | 1.467351 |
| Japanese Yen to US Dollar | 0.009194 |
| Canadian Dollar to US Dollar | 0.940468 |
An early rally faded, but stocks did manage to finish flat a day after the major averages absorbed their worst percentage losses on the first day of trading in January since 1983.
The Dow Jones industrials closed up about 8 points to 13,052. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 8 points to 2,601, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was off less than 1 point to 1,447.
Crude oil had crossed $100 a barrel about noon ET Wednesday, hitting a top of $100.09 before dropping back. Today the Energy Department surprised no one in reporting a decline in U.S. crude oil inventories for a seventh week in a row. Heating oil and gasoline supplies showed gains.
The rise in the price of oil is "ridiculous," analyst Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer & Co. said Wednesday. "There is absolutely no justification for $100 oil." Speculation, he added, has taken oil prices higher, not a decrease in supply or an increase in demand.
- Talk back: Are you ready for $4-a-gallon gas?
Gold closed up $6.40 to $866.40 an ounce and is up nearly 9% in the last three weeks.
Twenty-four of the 30 Dow stocks were higher, led by United Technologies (UTX, news, msgs), up 1.8% to $76.55. Fewer than 200 S&P 500 stocks showed gains. The broad index was led by Monsanto (MON, news, msgs), up 8.5% to $120.92 after reporting strong first-quarter results, and asset manager State Street (STT, news, msgs), up 8.2% to $85.37 after making some moves to cope with mortgage losses.
While the market was flat, automakers reported December and 2007 sales. Toyota Motor (TM, news, msgs) edged out Ford Motor (F, news, msgs) as the No. 2 U.S. automaker.
It's the first time since 1931 that Ford has not been the second-biggest U.S. automaker.
Ford, Toyota and General Motors (GM, news, msgs) reported lower December sales. Chrysler and Honda Motor (HMC, news, msgs) reported small gains.
Ford and GM shares were lower today; Toyota and Honda shares moved higher.
Payrolls report weighs on market
The market spent much of the day focusing on Friday's big payrolls report, which comes out at 8:30 a.m. ET. The consensus estimate is that the economy added 70,000 jobs in December, although some predict 50,000 and 85,000 jobs.What isn't expected is a drop in payroll employment in the wake of the subprime-mortgage crisis and the credit crunch that has plagued the global system since last summer.
Ahead of the Labor Department report, payroll service company ADP has released its own report showing anemic job growth.
The ADP report showed that nonfarm jobs grew by 40,000 in December, the weakest growth since 27,000 jobs were added to the economy in August. November job gains were an estimated 173,000.
- Video: More on the ADP report
In a separate report by outplacement consultant firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the total number of 2007 job cuts reached 768,264, fewer than the 839,822 job cuts announced for all of 2006.
"The housing slump has failed to translate into widespread job cuts outside of the financial sector," CEO John Challenger said in a press release. "We did not even see the typical spike in fourth-quarter job cuts."
The financial sector cut 153,105 jobs last year, 31% more than the 116,515 jobs that were cut in 2001, the year of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
| Thur. | Wed. | Chg. | Month chg. | YTD chg. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crude oil (NYMEX) (per barrel) | $99.18 | $99.62 | -$0.44 | 3.31% | 3.31% |
| Heating oil (per gallon) | $2.7191 | $2.7404 | -$0.0213 | 3.11% | 3.11% |
| Natural gas (per million BTU) | $7.6740 | $7.8500 | -$0.1760 | 3.90% | 3.90% |
| Unleaded gasoline (per gallon) | $2.5414 | $2.5689 | -$0.0275 | 3.32% | 3.32% |
State Street sets aside millions for lawsuits
Asset manager State Street is preparing for a slew of lawsuits related to the subprime-mortgage-market meltdown.The financial company is putting $279 million aside in the fourth quarter to cover potential suits from losses related to its fixed-income business, which participated in the subprime market in 2007.
"We have reviewed the actively managed fixed-income strategies . . . that contained investments backed by subprime mortgages," State Street CEO Ronald Logue said in a statement. "Based on our review and discussions with certain customers who were invested in these strategies, we have established this reserve to address legal exposure and other costs."
Video on MSN Money
Mortgage meltdown getting worse?While investors are still wondering how big the losses in the home-mortgage market will get, the problem is spreading to commercial mortgages, says MSN Money's Jim Jubak. Wachovia is now looking at $1 billion in write-downs in its commercial-mortgage portfolio.
State Street also said it expects to earn between $3.42 and $3.45 per share for 2007, well below the consensus estimate of $4.19 per share.
Monsanto beats The Street
There's nothing like good old corn to help boost a company's earnings.Stock Chart (Year)
Monsanto
Monsanto shares jumped after the company reported fiscal-first-quarter net income of $256 million, or 46 cents per share, nearly triple the $90 million, or 16 cents per share, Monsanto earned in the same quarter last year.
With ethanol pumping up demand for corn, sales surged 36% to $2.1 billion in the quarter, thanks in part to strong sales of corn seed in Brazil and Argentina. The company also saw good sales of its herbicides.
The company also boosted its 2008 forecast to between $2.50 and $2.60 per share, up from a previous forecast of $2.20 to $2.40 per share.
Ford turns to Tata for Jag sale
Ford Motor may have located a buyer for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands: India's Tata Motors.Ford said that it will hold "substantive" talks with the Indian company, although "there is still a considerable amount of work to do." Ford shares were down 2% to $6.47 this afternoon.
Ford lost a record $12.6 billion in 2006 and has since been looking to get rid of its Jaguar and Land Rover businesses to focus on the ailing U.S. market.
More from MSN Money
Gold shines
Oil isn't the only commodity hitting new highs these days.Gold futures closed up $6.40 to $866.40 as investors turned to gold as a safer investment during this time of concern about the economy and the credit- and mortgage-market mess.
"Global inflationary pressures will worsen as energy and food costs keep rising,'' Zhu Lv, metal broker at Shanghai Jinpeng Futures, told Bloomberg. "We may eventually end up in a recession, and until then people are seeking a safe place for their money."
Stock Chart (Year)
Barrick Gold
Barrick Gold (ABX, news, msgs) was up 5.9% to $48.71 and now has a market cap roughly the same size as Caterpillar (CAT, news, msgs). Newmont Mining (NEM, news, msgs) rose 2.7% to $53.81.
Merck to develop new drug
Drug giant Merck (MRK, news, msgs) is in a deal with Swiss drug maker Addex Pharmaceuticals to make a drug to help combat schizophrenia, the companies announced today.Addex could get as much as $700 million in licensing fees for Merck's orally available drug candidate, for now called ADX63365, with a $22 million initial investment to develop it.
The two companies are already in a partnership to develop a drug to fight Parkinson's disease.
Shares of Merck were down 5 cents to $57.32 on the day.
| Thur. | Wed. | Chg. | Month chg. | YTD chg. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Treasurys | |||||
| 13-week Treasury bill | 3.150% | 3.170% | -0.020 | -0.63% | -0.63% |
| 5-year Treasury note yield | 3.264% | 3.271% | -0.007 | -0.21% | -0.21% |
| 10-year Treasury note yield | 3.901% | 3.901% | 0.000 | 0.00% | 0.00% |
| 30-year Treasury bond yield | 4.369% | 4.352% | 0.017 | 0.39% | 0.39% |
| Currencies | |||||
| U.S. Dollar Index | 75.880 | 76.010 | -0.130 | -0.47% | -0.47% |
| British pound in U.S. dollars | $1.9720 | $1.9818 | -0.0098 | -0.77% | -0.77% |
| U.S. dollar in British pounds | £0.5071 | £0.5046 | 0.0025 | 0.78% | 0.78% |
| Euro in U.S. dollars | 1.4751 | 1.4732 | 0.0020 | 1.08% | 1.08% |
| U.S. dollar in euros | € 0.6779 | € 0.6788 | -0.0009 | -1.07% | -1.07% |
| U.S. dollar in yen | ¥109.28 | ¥109.69 | -0.41 | -2.14% | -2.14% |
| U.S. dollar in Canadian dollars | $0.990 | $0.993 | -0.003 | -0.76% | -0.76% |
| Canadian dollar in U.S. dollars | $1.011 | $1.007 | 0.004 | 0.84% | 0.84% |
| Commodities | |||||
| Gold | $866.40 | $860.00 | $6.40 | 3.39% | 3.39% |
| Copper | $3.1880 | $3.0640 | $0.124 | 3.78% | 3.78% |
| Silver | $15.5000 | $15.5000 | $0.21 | 4.06% | 4.06% |
| Crude oil (NYMEX) (per barrel) | $99.18 | $99.62 | -$0.44 | 3.31% | 3.31% |
By Charley Blaine and Elizabeth Strott, MSN Money
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