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Stocks mixed
Associated PressNEW YORK -- Stocks were mixed today as investors mulled the impact of a slowing economy: steadier interest rates but the potential for weaker corporate profits.
At midday on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 24.39 at 10,660.37, while the Nasdaq composite index was off 13.01 at 4,010.01. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 1.58 at 1,480.48. The Russell 2000 index rose 1.23 to 529.45.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a narrow margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 345.45 million shares, down from Friday's pace.
Investors were trading cautiously as they digested a positive jobs report from the government on Friday. The report gave the latest evidence that the U.S. economy is slowing in response to the Federal Reserve's six interest rate increases since last June.
Most economists now expect the Fed to leave rates unchanged for the next few months. While that's good news for investors who were unnerved earlier this year by the Fed's actions, there is still a great deal of concern in the market that the cumulative effect of the rate hikes will be a drop in corporate profits.
Second quarter earnings announcement will start streaming in this week.
"Everybody is kind of waiting and watching until corporate earnings announcements hit full stride the end of this week," said Alan Ackerman, senior vice president at Fahnestock & Co.
The first Dow component to report profits, Alcoa, reported higher-than-expected earnings. Shares of the aluminum producer rose $2.25 to $29.87. Yahoo!, expected to release its earnings report tomorrow, fell $4.62 to $111.87.
Prudential Securities upgraded its rating on several beaten down retailers, including Best Buy, up $3.06 to $73.81 and Circuit City Stores, up $2.69 to $37.69. Lehman Brothers upgraded chip maker Applied MicroDevices, which rose $4.31 to $86.31.