US stocks finished little changed on Thursday as a rally in commodities and energy stocks offset weakness in the banking and technology sectors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 14.16 points, or 0.12%, to finish at 12,285.15. The S&P 500 added 0.11 points, or 0.01%, to close at 1,314.52. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.30 points, or 0.05%, to 2,760.22.
A release by Department of Labor on Thursday showed number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment benefits jumped 27,000 to 412,000 in the week ending April 9. Economists expected jobless claims to drop to 380,000. The four-week average of seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims, a less volatile gauge, increased 5,500 to 395,750. Continuing claims for the week ending April 2 fell 58,000 to 3.68 million.
After Thursday's closing bell, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) reported that its first quarter net income rose to $2.30 billion or $7.04 per share, from $1.96 billion or $6.06 per share in the fourth quarter last year. On an adjusted basis, the company earned $8.08 a share in the second quarter. Revenue rose 27% to $8.58 billion from $6.78 billion. Google shares slumped more than 5% in after-hours trading.
Supervalu Inc. (NYSE: SVU) said Thursday that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit fell to $95 million, or 44 cents a share, from $97 million, or 46 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue declined to $8.66 billion from $9.21 billion. Supervalu shares soared $1.53, or 16.85%, to $10.61.
Shares of Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) rallied 15 cents, or 3.12%, to $4.96.
European stocks closed down. The UK FTSE fell 46.64 points, or 0.78% to 5,963.80. The German DAX and French CAC decreased 0.44% and 0.89% respectively.
Asian stocks finished mixed. The Nikkei 225 rose 12.74 points, or 0.13%, to 9,653.92. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong declined 121.03 points, or 0.50%, to 24,014.
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