Stocks end the day flat after encouraging news on jobs
10/11/2012NEW YORK — Stocks ended the day close to break-even despite some good news on jobs.
The Labor Department says applications for unemployment benefits fell last week to 339,000. That's the lowest in more than four years. Economists also look at the four-week average, and that hit a six-month low.
Stocks were up early but fell later. The Dow Jones industrial average finished off 18 points at 13,326. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up a fraction of a point at 1,432. The Nasdaq composite index fell two to 3,049.
Advancing stocks beat decliners by about 2-to-1. Early numbers show volume was heavier than average, 3.6 billion shares.