Dow Retreats, Yields Rise on Economic Data

Blue-chip stocks fell Thursday as yields rose in response to tepid economic data. Most markets will be closed today for Good Friday, when a key March jobs report will be issued.

“Traders are very courageous to be willing to be long going into the weekend. There’s the potential for a surprise for the jobs report,” said Michael Metz, Oppenheimer & Co.’s chief investment strategist.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 6.86 points to 5,682.88, a day after it closed at a record high of 5,689.74. In the broader market, declining issues led advancers 1,182 to 1,044 on active volume of 386 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange. For the four-day week, the Dow was up 95.74 points.

The Standard & Poor’s composite index of 500 stocks edged down 0.02 point to 655.86, but the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.36 points to 1,118.21.

Wall Street economists expect the employment report to show 60,000 jobs were created in March and an unemployment rate of 5.6%.

The Labor Department report on March 8 that the nation had added a massive 705,000 new jobs in February sent the Dow down 171 points that day.

Metz said he believes the March data “will counterbalance the February report. My guess is they will be full of revisions and the economy is not as strong as people inferred.” He noted that data for the first quarter were skewed by the blizzard, government shutdowns and the General Motors Corp. strike.”You can almost throw out first-quarter data.”

Weekly U.S. jobless claims, meanwhile, came in higher than expected, largely because of the GM strike, at 408,000; the expected figure was 377,000.

The yield of the Treasury’s main 30-year bond rose to 6.67% from 6.62% on Wednesday.

NYSE volume was swollen by the start of trading of Lucent Technologies, the biggest U.S. initial public offering ever, with 112 million shares priced at $27 apiece. More than 42 million shares of the AT&T; telecommunications equipment spinoff changed hands before closing at 30 5/8.

Among market highlights:

* Oil stocks were among the day’s stronger sectors. Mobil rose 1 7/8 to 119 3/8, Texaco added 1 7/8 to 87 7/8 and Exxon was up 1 5/8 to 85 1/2 amid firmer crude prices.

* Airline stocks firmed as expectations for a strong first-quarter performance mounted. UAL, the parent of United Airlines, rose 4 1/8 to 221 1/8, American Airlines’ parent AMR added 2 1/2 to 92 3/8, Continental class B shares rose 1 3/8 to 59 1/2 and Delta added 2 7/8 to 81 1/2.

* Circuit City rose 1 3/8 to 30 7/8 after reporting higher than expected fourth-quarter earnings.

* Hyperion Software slumped 7 3/8 to 11 1/8 after a warning on earnings and a downgrade from Alex Brown.

* BJ Services climbed 3 7/8 to 37 1/8 and Nowsco Well surged 6 1/4 to 21 1/2 in U.S. trading after BJ launched a takeover bid for Calgary-based Nowsco. Both are oil field services companies.

* DecisionOne, which provides multivendor computer maintenance and technology support services, rose 3 7/8 to 21 7/8 in its first day of trading.

* In another IPO, Excite, which provides a popular Internet search directory, added 3 to close 20. Sapient, which develops client/server and Internet-enabled client/server software applications, also made its debut. It jumped 11 to 32.

Oil prices rose as more cold weather was forecast for the Northeast, lifting demand for heating oil. May heating oil surged 1.35 cents to 59.57 cents a gallon; May crude oil gained 48 cents to $22.75 a barrel; and May gasoline rose 1.07 cents to 68.76 cents a gallon and hit a new contract high of 69.20 cents. May natural gas added 3.1 cents to $2.335 per million British thermal units.