4:45PM Gold close at $600 and oil trades near $70.

-Dow down 23.05, Nasdaq up 1.42 and S&P down 2.52 points.
-June gold up $7.20 to $599.70 and silver rose 34 cents to $12.045.
-Crude oil up 87 cents to $67.94 per barrel and gasoline up 5 cents to $2.00 per gallon.
- Yield on 10-year bond rose to 4.897% and 30-year bond to 4.966%.

Weekly unemployment report showed that the claims dropped by 5,000 to 299,000, however traders ignored the report as they waited for a monthly non-farm payroll to be released on Friday. Oil, retailers and precious metals drove the market sentiment. Oil rose and closed to $68 a barrel in Europe and in New York and in precious metal market gold crossed $600 price for the first time since 1981. Silver closed above $12 and copper reached a new record. Metal traders have been forecasting a long climb of the metal and several bullish traders are predicting the gold price to rise higher than $700 in the near future.

Among large cap stocks Merck fell 3% on court verdict against the company but 3M managed to rise 5.5% on the better earnings forecast. Parker Hannifin (PH: chart) fell 4.5% on lower sales for the month of March. Home builders, utilities and transportation stocks declined as yields on short and long bonds rose. Lehman Brothers (LEH: chart) rose 1.7% on the news that the company board has approved 2-for-1 split to shareholders on record of April 18 on April 28.


Retailers were in focus on the release of same-store sales data. Apparel retailers, despite reporting weaker than expected data rose for the most part. Bebe Stores (BEBE: chart) and Citi Trends rose more than 10% and Mother Works and Costco (COST: chart) rose at close. Drug store chain CVS (CVS: chart) rose close to 5% and luxury retailer Nordstrom rose 4.8% at close. Federated Department ((FD) rose less than 1% on weak sales report.

Emerging markets rose in Asia but fell in Latin America and Hong Kong led the markets around the world.

4:00PM Hong Kong advance 1.93% to lead emerging markets.
Philippines, Indonesia and Hong Kong traded near record level at close. Other emerging markets in Asia closed higher as investors kept the funds flowing into equities in Taiwan, South Korea and Australia. Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 1.93% as HSBC and China Mobile led gainers. China Mobile rose 5% and was responsible for half the gain in the index. HSBC added 0.9%. Index in Taiwan rose 1.4% to close at 6,760 and reached a two-year high led by semiconductor stocks. Taiwan Semi and United Micro rose 2.2% and 1.4% respectively. Despite rising precious metal prices South African main index closed 0.26% lower to 20,631. Brazil managed to rise 0.6% but Mexico and Argentina each lost 0.3% at close. Russia’s main index RTS rose 0.58% to a record level on the strength in oil and metal prices in international markets. Russian market is up 30% for the year and after rising more than 80% in 2005 is up 3,300% since 1998.


3:30PM Gold reached $600 and up 10% for the year.
Gold closed at $599.70 but reached as high as $602 per ounce for the first time since 1981. Gold has risen more than 10% for the year. Gold stocks have not performed as well as gold price have done in the last four years. After languishing between $200 and $230 price for the most of the years between 1999 and 2001, gold has climbed steadily to $600. Gold has been a store of value in India, China and Middle Eastern cultures and a hedge against inflation in the western countries. Rising incomes in Asian and Middle Eastern countries have only increased demand for gold. European and especially the U.S. governments have generated sizable annual deficits. The U.S. government is expected generate a sizable budget deficit in the last four years and is likely to continue to generate budget deficit.

3:00PM Apparel retailer Bebe Stores and Children’s Place shine in March sales.
Most retail stores reported lower same-store sales than a year ago but managed to beat the expectations of the analysts. Apparel retailer Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF: chart) rose 2.4% and reported flat March sales, American Eagle (AEOS: chart) rose 4% on 3% rise in sales, Bebe Stores (BEBE: chart) rose 13% on sales rise of 4% and Aeropostale (ARO: chart) rose 7% on sales drop of 9%. Mothers Work (MWRK: chart) rose 11% on 2% rise in same store sales and earnings guidance of at least 6 cents from a loss of 5 cents to 1 cent profit in the second quarter. Nordstrom (JWN: chart) rose 6% on same store sales rise of 4.3%.

Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY: chart) rose 7% after company reported earnings of 67 cents vs. 75 cents a year ago. Christopher Banks (CBK: chart) reported earnings of 18 cents vs. 17 cents a year ago. Costco rose Wholesale Corp (COST: chart) rose 1.5% on the same-store sales rise of 7% in the U.S. and 9% for international stores.

Apple Computer (AAPL: chart) rose 7% after adding close to 10% yesterday. Industrial products manufacturer 3M (MMM: chart) rose 5.5% as it raised its outlook for the first quarter of this year. The company raised its earnings forecast between $1.15 an $1.16 from between $1.10 and $1.14 per share.


12:30PM European markets recover on interest rate comments.
European markets recovered from mid-day weakness to close in the positive, reflecting comments from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet on interest rates after the bank left its key interest rate unchanged at 2.5%. Energy, metals and tech stocks led advancers with gains for Italian Tenaris, Anglo-Dutch Corus Group, German SAP and Dutch ASML. Auto stocks like DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen fell after oil prices increased and Credit Suisse downgraded the whole sector. The German DAX 30 edged up 0.04%, the French CAC 40 gained 0.03%, and London FTSE 100 added 0.03%.

Crude oil prices jumped to $68 on weaker domestic gasoline supplies. Light sweet crude May delivery rose 93 cents to $68 a barrel. Gasoline futures gained 4 cents to $1.989. London Brent climbed 68 cents to $68.67. European gold neared $600 per ounce, setting a new 25-year high as the rising oil prices increased the appeal of the precious metal. In London gold traded at $593 per troy ounce, up from $586.90. In Zurich the precious metal rose to $593.60 from $584.30. In Hong Kong gold rose $9 to 594.80. Silver climbed to $11.80 from $11.70. The U.S. dollar traded up versus major currencies. The euro traded at $1.2229, down from $1.2291. The dollar bought 117.69, up from 117.36. The British pound was quoted at $1.7526, down from $1.7532.


11:30AM Stocks were under pressure.
Surging oil prices put stocks under pressure Thursday morning. The three major averages remained below the flat line, moving off their intraday lows. The released petroleum report on Wednesday, showing weaker-than-expected gasoline supplies, sent crude oil to $67.75 a barrel. The price increase contributed to significant weakness among airline stocks, with the Amex Airline Index currently down 1.7%. Continental Airlines (CAL: chart) and AMR (AMR: chart) stood out as the worst performers in the sector, falling on worries about higher fuel costs. Utilities stocks also showed weakness on inflation concerns and further interest rate hikes. The Dow Jones Utilities Average fell 1%. The biotechnology sector notably moved to the downside, with 1.7% loss posted by the Amex Biotechnology Index. Among biotechnology stocks, Celgene (CELG: chart) dropped 5.4% on warning about the stock's valuation. Health care and housing stocks together with the housing sector also showed considerable weakness. Gold stocks sharply advanced, benefiting from a continued increase in the price of the precious metal. The semiconductor sector moved steeply to the upside, extending yesterday’s gains.

Initial jobless claims unexpectedly dropped.
Thursday morning, the Department of Labor released its report on initial jobless claims in the week ended April, showing that jobless claims unexpectedly fell. The Labor Dept. said that jobless claims fell to 299,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 304,000. Economists had been expecting claims to increase to 305,000 from the 302,000 originally reported for the previous week. The report also showed that the less volatile four-week moving average fell to 308,500 from the previous week's revised average of 311,250. With the decrease, the moving average moved lower for the second consecutive week. Additionally, the report said continuing claims in the week ended March 25 fell to 2.440 million from the preceding week's revised level of 2.462 million. While the report sheds some light on the strength of the labor market, most traders are likely to continue to look ahead to the release of the March employment report on Friday. Economists currently expect the employment report to show that the economy added around 190,000 jobs in March following an increase of 243,000 jobs in February. At the same time, the unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.8 percent.