The Dow has been able to pare an early loss of 78 points. The Nasdaq was down as many as 19 points. Currently the Dow and Nasdaq are down 0.2%, and the S&P 500 is down 0.1%.

Today's report on initial jobless claims was weaker than expected. New claims unexpectedly rose 38,000 to 407,000 last week. That's a level which historically suggests a contraction in the economy. A report on the service economy was stronger than expected, but still showed contraction for the third straight month. Cisco Systems fell 65 cents to 24.28 on concerns that a slowdown in orders will curb profits. Garmin dropped 2.10 to 54.27. The company said first quarter revenue may fall 50% from a year ago.

On the plus side, Research in Motion reported profits that beat expectations, and shares gained 6.69 to 122.55. Schering Plough gained 1.26 to 15.12 after announcing it will close plants and cut jobs in an effort to save $1.5 billion a year. Coal stocks gained on a merger in the sector. Patriot Coal gained 10.90 to 57.89 after agreeing to buy closely-held Magnum Coal for $559 million.

The NYSE was 8-7 negative on issues, 14-13 positive on volume. The Nasdaq was 4-3 negative on issues and 9-8 positive on volume. Treasuries rose after the weak jobless claims report. The 10-year Treasury note was up 11/32 to yield 3.55%.

Source: By A. G. Edwards Stock Market Commentary