Stocks mixed as US data tempers early decline

About $39 million given to major funds for Joplin’s storm recovery

A 4-year-old Ohio boy sent $200 he raised from selling cups of lemonade for a quarter.
A Missouri-born singer donated $130,000 from the auction of her 1959 Mercedes convertible.

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February 16, 2012

Anonymous From The Associated Press The Joplin Globe Thu Feb 16, 2012, 09:10 AM CST

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are opening slightly higher on encouraging data about unemployment benefits and inflation.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 19 points to 12,800 shortly after the market opened Thursday, reversing a pre-market decline in Dow futures on uncertainty about Greece’s bailout.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 fell about a point to 1,343. The Nasdaq composite fell 2 points to 2,914.

The Labor Department said weekly applications for unemployment benefits dropped for the fourth time in five weeks, reaching their lowest point since March 2008. The agency also said one broad measure of wholesale inflation came in lower than expected last month.

European markets did not fare as well. Major indexes slid on worries over whether Greece will secure a bailout, which it needs to avoid a default.

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