Healthy rise for some US stocks

Wall Street showed some reassuring signs of stability today, closing mostly higher despite the biggest monthly decline in jobs in five years.

The major indexes ended the first four sessions of the second quarter with a healthy advance.

While some nervous investors fled to government bonds, the report, showing the US economy lost 80,000 jobs last month, appeared to simply confirm assumptions of a widespread economic slowdown.

Although the job losses are indeed a significant sign of economic weakness, a lacklustre report was widely expected, and some investors were relieved the total was not higher.

Thomson/IFR had projected 15,000 jobs were lost in March, but some economists expected 150,000 cuts.

Payrolls for January and February were revised lower by a total of 67,000 and the unemployment rate shot up to 5.1%, the highest since September 2005.

The economy has lost jobs in the first three months of this year, and the latest report adds fuel to the belief of many economists that the US is already in recession.

"The economic data is negative, but I think what the market's telling us is we've priced in a lot of the bad news already," said Arthur Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co. "You could make the argument that we've thrown a lot of difficult news at this market and it's reacted very well."

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 16.61, or 0.13%, to close at 12,609.42, in part because of a decline in General Motors stock.

Broader stock indicators edged higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 1.09, or 0.08%, to 1,370.40, and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 7.68, or 0.32% to 2,370.98.

Though the major indexes showed modest moves, advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume totalled 1.24 billion shares compared with 1.25 billion shares traded on Thursday.

Treasury prices soared after the jobs report, as investors often seek the safety of government-backed bonds amid uncertainty about the economy.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.49% from 3.59% on Thursday.