By Kate Gibson
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks meandered between gains
and losses Thursday after data on weekly jobless claims
disappointed investors and a separate report showed inflation
remaining fairly tame in September.
"The economy should be able to support current fourth-quarter
and early 2011 analysts' earnings estimates. However, the economy
still does not appear strong enough to add a meaningful number of
jobs," wrote Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at Davidson
Companies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) was lately up 5.53 points
to 11,101.86, with 17 of its 30 components rising.
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) weighed most on the blue-chip index,
with its shares and those of other banks hit as analysts attempted
to estimate losses related to the halt in home foreclosures
The S&P 500 Index (SPX) was off less than 1 point to
1,177.96, with telecom and energy shares up the most and financials
hit the hardest.
Notable movers included Apollo Group Inc.(APOL), shares of which
fell 25% after the operator of the University of Phoenix rescinded
its outlook for fiscal 2011, pointing to scrutiny from regulators
and a possible 40% drop in new students.
Other for-profit eductors were also hit, with shares of most
suffering double-digit declines.
The Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.44 points to 2,443.72.
Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) shares surged 5.8% after published reports
said the Internet-search company could be an acquisition target of
private-equity firms.
Rival Google Inc. (GOOG) is scheduled to release its earnings
report after the closing bell.
Advancers ran just ahead of declining issues on the New York
Stock Exchange, where 288 million shares traded as of 10:50 a.m.
Eastern.
Stock indexes retreated after the government said its count of
Americans filing initial applications for unemployment benefits
climbed last week. .
Separately, the producer price index -- a gauge of how much
goods cost at the wholesale level -- climbed 0.1% last month,
excluding food and energy. .
The increase in jobless claims helped push the dollar index
(DXY) , a measure of the U.S. currency against those of six other
nations, to its lowest level this year.