US stocks little changed in early trade

NEW YORK: US stocks moved sideways in early trade after Tuesday's spectacular last-hour recovery on hopes of a new eurozone push to shore up weak banks.

At 1415 GMT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 5.23 points (0.05 percent) at 10,813.94.

The broader S&P 500 rose 0.76 (0.07 percent) to 1,124.71, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.53 points (0.02 percent) to 2,404.29.

The market sagged in the first half hour of trade after payrolls firm ADP reported that US companies added a meager 91,000 jobs last month.

It was better than expected but still not enough to remedy high levels of unemployment, analysts said.

"If ADP is right, employers are cutting back in a measured fashion and are not acting -- at least not yet -- as though they fear a new recession," said Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics.

After late news that EU officials were discussing ways to protect weak banks, US markets turned around on Tuesday from deep losses and the Dow closed higher by 1.4 percent, the S&P 500 2.3 percent, and the Nasdaq nearly 3.0 percent.

Traders were keeping an eye on Europe's troubles Wednesday, as worries about a Greek default continued to haunt the region's banks.

Hewlett-Packard led gainers among the Dow blue chips, jumping 2.4 percent, while McDonalds dropped nearly one percent.

On the Nasdaq, Apple fell another 1.5 percent after it disappointed fans Tuesday by releasing an upgrade of the iPhone 4 and not an entirely new fifth generation model.

Google shares sank 2.8 percent after Stifel Nicolaus lowered its rating to "hold" from "buy" saying it believed "the strategic position of Google is weakening."

Bond prices rose. The 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to 1.87 percent from 1.78 percent late Tuesday, while the 30-year yield climbed to 2.86 percent from 2.76 percent.

Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011