Market Hinges on Jobs Report

Even though the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closed down yesterday,
the Nasdaq, led by the technology sector, scored a new closing high. This was
the first trading day this year that the Dow registered a decline. The Dow and
S&Ps decline was due to selling in the telecommunications sector, which fell
2.8%, and the retail sector, which lost 1.6%. Retail stocks have fallen for
several days on reports of weaker-than-expected holiday sales. Target (NYSE: TGT
) was the worst performer, off 6.8%, after reporting that December sales
increased by just 1%. The Gap (NYSE: GPS ) fell 6.9%, also from weaker December
sales. And Macys (NYSE: M ) lost 4%, while Kohls (NYSE: KSS ) fell 3.1%, both
from missed analysts expectations. But with the New York Technology Show in full
swing, the darlings of the day were in the technology group. NVIDIA Corp.
(NASDAQ: NVDA ) popped 14% from a move that challenges Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC
) and Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD ). NVDA is developing its first computer
processor aimed at the mainstream computing market. Intel fell 0.8% and AMD was
off 2.5% on the news. But the semiconductor group gained 1.8%. Some of the big
techs were strong with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) up 2.93%, Sandisk Corp.
(NASDAQ: SNDK ) gaining 0.92%, and Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM ) ahead by 2%. 
In economic news, the weekly jobless claims report rose just slightly above what
economists had predicted, but was a big disappointment following Wednesdays
private sector jobs report showing a surge. As a result, expectations for
Thursdays report were high, and Fridays estimate for key government non-farm
payrolls was increased. All eyes will be glued to that report today, and a big
miss could cause some selling. Treasurys rose on Thursday as euro zone debt
problems surfaced again. The problem this time was a document released by the
European Union that asks senior bond holders to share the burden of future
bailouts funded with taxpayer money. The 10-year note rose 0.531% to yield
3.418%, and the 30-year bond rose to a yield of 4.534%. The euro violated its
200-day moving average briefly, falling to $1.30 before closing at $1.3015, down
from $1.3155 on Wednesday. At the close, the Dow fell 26 points to 11,697, the
S&P 500 fell 3 points to 1,274, and the Nasdaq rose 8 points to 11,697. The NYSE
traded almost 1.1 billion shares with decliners ahead of advancers by 1.4-to-1.
The Nasdaq crossed 520 million shares with decliners ahead by 1.3-to-1. Crude
oil for February delivery fell $1.92 to $88.38 a barrel in reaction to a
stronger dollar. The Energy Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLE ) fell 65 cents to
$67.79. Gold (February contract) fell to $1,371.70 an ounce, down $2, and the
PHLX Gold/Silver Sector Index (NASDAQ: XAU ) lost 4.85 points, closing at
210.99. The next technical support for the XAU is at 206.