Stocks Rise Before Release of Jobs Report

Stocks traded in a narrow range Thursday as investors await the government’s February jobs report.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended the day in positive territory after gaining 47.38 points, or 0.46%, to 10,444.14. The S&P 500 inched up 4.18 points, or 0.37%, to 1,122.97. The Nasdaq composite jumped 11.53 points, or 0.51%, to 2,292.31.

More than one billion shares of Over the Counter securities traded hands throughout the day with one stock gaining for every 1.1 decliner. The Pink Sheets saw more bullish activity with more than seven billion shares being traded.

Jobs: The government announced that initial jobless claims dipped last week after two straight weeks of unexpected increases. New claims dropped by 29,000 from the revised prior total in the week ended February 27 to 498,000. The number practically matched expectations of 470,000 claims, according to a Briefing.com consensus of economists’ forecasts.

Friday’s report is expected to show that unemployment rose to 9.8% in February from 9.7% in January as employers cut 50,000 jobs. Economists are also expecting slight gains in both average hourly earnings and average hours worked. Gains in these areas often come before a pickup in hiring.

Home Sales: An unexpected drop in pending home sales left investors cautious ahead of the Labor Department’s employment figures Friday morning. Many analysts consider the report to be the most important reading on the economy.

The National Association of Realtors’ reported that its index of home sales agreements fell 7.6% in January from December. Contracts fell to the lowest level since April.

Commodities and the dollar: The dollar helped drive down commodity prices after gaining against the euro, yen and British pound.

Oil slipped a third of a point but remained above $80 dollars a barrel while the price of natural gas tumbled 18 cents to 4.58 per mmbtu.

Gold slipped 9.60 an ounce to end the day at 1,133.70 for April.