NEW YORK—U.S. stocks were little changed Friday as a declining appetite for risk and concerns about the subprime mortgage market offset optimism about data showing steady job growth.
Stocks initially soared after the government reported February job growth was nearly in line with expectations and gave upward revisions of job growth figures from earlier months, easing worries about an economic slowdown.
But indexes were knocked lower as investors feared that a fallout from the subprime market amid a slowing housing sector could hurt consumer spending as banks tighten lending.
New Century Financial Corp , a lender that offers mortgages to people with poor credit histories, said it had stopped accepting new loans and analysts said they expect the company to seek bankruptcy protection soon.
"The main focus this morning was the jobs number and once that came out you saw a lot of activity (related) to that and people have kind of closed out positions going into the weekend," said John O'Brien senior vice president at MKM partners in Cleveland, Ohio. "Once we hit noon everyone started looking for the exits."
The Dow Jones industrial average<.DJI> was up 11.62 points, or 0.09 percent, at 12,272.32. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index<.SPX> was up 0.90 points, or 0.06 percent, at 1,402.79. The Nasdaq Composite Index<.IXIC> was down 2.11 points, or 0.09 percent, at 2,385.62.
Stocks have been volatile since a sell-off in global equities last week wiped out about $2 trillion in investor assets, amid a diminishing appetite for risky assets. However, major U.S. indexes, were on track to finish the week with modest gains.
New Century shares dropped 18.1 percent to $3.17 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has fallen nearly 80 percent in the past week.
The data showing February non-farm payrolls rose by 97,000 was close to economists' forecasts and cheered the market after days of heavy selling by global equities markets amid a diminishing appetite for risk.
Stocks that advanced included shares of aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. The Nasdaq was weighed down by shares of Yahoo Inc. after the Wall Street Journal reported AT&T was negotiating changes that could lead to a scaling back of its deal with the Internet company. [ID:nN08336119]
Yahoo shares were the top negative weight on the Nasdaq 100 , slipping 5.1 percent to $29.15. At&T shares slipped 0.1 percent to $36.48 on the NYSE.
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