Dec 6, 2006 9:17 am US/Central
Wall Street Pulls Back In Early Trading
NEW YORK (AP) ―
Wall Street pulled back Wednesday as investors anticipated this week's key jobs report and reacted to Yahoo Inc.'s announcement of its biggest management shakeup in more than five years.
Investors paused after two-straight days of gains, and began to entrench ahead of the Labor Department's November payroll report due Friday.
An employment indicator published by ADP and Macroeconomic Advisers suggests the Labor Department will report a 158,000 job increase — above economists' expectations for a 110,000 rise in jobs.
Technology shares remained under pressure after Yahoo announced a makeover to help boost the Internet portal's competitiveness against Google Inc. Business software maker Novell Inc. was under pressure after releasing a disappointing forecast.
In the early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 12.98, or 0.11 percent, to 12,318.62.
Broader stock indicators also declined. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 2.07, or 0.15 percent, to 1,412.69, and the Nasdaq composite index declined 10.84, or 0.44 percent, to 2,441.54.
Bonds fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.47 percent from 4.45 percent late Tuesday. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.
Oil prices slipped ahead of the release of weekly U.S. petroleum inventory data, which is expected to show higher supplies. A barrel of light sweet crude fell 14 cents to $62.29 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Yahoo, the world's second-largest search engine behind Google, announced an overhaul late Tuesday to help give the company a clearer direction and streamline its operations. Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker was put in charge of ad sales in a move that may signal her anointment as successor to the company's top job.
The stock, which has struggled this year while Google flourished, fell 21 cents to $27.22.
Novell lost ground after the business-software developer posted disappointing quarterly results due to weak sales of older products. The company also said it expects to take restructuring charges in 2007, pulling down shares 48 cents, or 7.6 percent, to $5.85.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 2.55, or 0.32 percent, to 794.87. The indeed hit an all-time high on Tuesday.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.65 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.09 percent, Germany's DAX index declined 0.24 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.55 percent.
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