Wall St stalls on jobs news

US STOCKS spun their wheels yesterday afternoon, struggling to break higher amid the surprise resignations of Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and White House Economic Advisor Lawrence Lindsey and a weak monthly jobs report.

The Nasdaq composite edged up 7.44 to 1418.19, while the Dow Jones industrial average rose 9.40 to 8632.68. The Standard & Poor's 500 index hovered near breakeven, up 3.81 to 910.36. All three indexes traded sharply lower in the first 20 minutes of the day’s trading on a surprisingly weak monthly jobs report.

Investors seemed to respond positively to O’Neill and Lindsey's resignations. Both resignations came at the request of the White House.

“The employment news was a negative surprise, but stocks recovered after the resignations,” said John Davidson, president and CEO of PartnersRe Asset Management. “Also, the market often reacts pretty violently to news at first and then settles down, and that's partly what you're seeing.”