Markets closed down today:
▲ Dow: +0.27 percent▼ Nasdaq: -0.38 percent
▲ S&P: +0.14 percent
Precious metals:
▼ Gold: down -0.14 percent to $1,551.85 an ounce▲ Silver: down -1.44 percent to settle at $28.30
Commodities:
▲ Oil: +0.47 percent
Market Closed up today because:
Hewlett-Packard helped pull the Dow Jones industrial average to a slight gain Thursday, giving the index only its fourth gain this month.
Stocks flipped between gains and losses throughout the day after a meeting of European leaders failed to deliver new steps to ease the region's debt crisis.
The Dow closed up 33.60 points at 12,529.75. Fears that Europe's troubles could turn into a worldwide financial crisis have pushed the 30-stock average down 5 percent this month, erasing most of its gains for the year.
U.S economic news gave traders little direction. Orders for long-lasting factory goods edged up in April, but a key category that tracks business investment spending fell for the second month in a row. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits dipped last week.
Hewlett-Packard rose 3 percent after the maker of personal computers and printers said it plans to purge 27,000 employees, nearly 8 percent of the company's payroll. H-P expects the layoffs, part of a turnaround program under CEO Meg Whitman, to save $3 billion or more.
European leaders wrapped up their latest summit Thursday with no new concrete steps to fix the continent's financial crisis, even as worries rise about a messy Greek exit from the euro currency union.
Markets in Europe recovered from a huge sell-off the day before. Germany's DAX increased 0.5 percent and the CAC-40 in France 1 percent.
In U.S. trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 index edged up 1.82 to 1,320.68. The Nasdaq composite index fell 10.74 points to 2,839.38.
Fears that Greece will drop the euro and set off a wider financial crisis have driven traders out of stocks and into the Treasury market this month. The surge in demand for Treasurys has knocked yields to all-time lows.
As a result, the U.S. federal government has been borrowing from bond markets at ever cheaper rates. The Treasury auctioned off seven-notes Thursday afternoon at 1.20 percent, the lowest rate on record.
Airline stocks surged. Analysts at JPMorgan Chase expect a drop in jet-fuel prices over the past three months to lift airlines' profits. US Airways Group jumped 11 percent and Delta Air Lines rose 5 percent. Southwest Airlines climbed 5 percent after the company said it plans to offer international flights from Houston's Hobby Airport.
The associated Press contributed to this report.
