Stocks End Mixed Amid Rise in Unemployment Claims

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Blue chips ended higher Thursday, snapping a three-session losing streak to post their first gains of 2005, despite a sharp rise in unemployment claims and mixed holiday sales reports from the nation’s retailers.


Wall Street greeted the Labor Department’s weekly first-time jobless claims report with surprising calm. Jobless claims rose to 364,000 last week, up from 321,000 the week before, the sharpest rise in nearly three years.


The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2 percent to 10,622.88. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.1 percent to 2,090, and the S & P; 500 Index rose 0.4 percent to 1,187.89.


Among local movers, shares of Unocal Corp. jumped 7.7 percent to $43.44 on a newspaper report that China National Offshore Oil Corp., China’s third-biggest oil company, may bid more than $13 billion for the El Segundo-based oil and natural gas producer. Unocal declined comment on the report. An acquisition of Unocal would dwarf previous purchases of U.S. companies by mainland Chinese rivals.


L.A.’s retailers showed some life as well. Hot Topic Inc. shot up 7.6 percent to $17.75 after its stock was raised to “buy” from “hold” by Sanders Morris Harris. And Guitar Center Inc. soared 10 percent after it revealed that an amped-up holiday season led to the Westlake Village-based musical instrument retailer to boost its fourth-quarter earnings forecast. The announcement was made after market close on Wednesday.


On the down side, shares of discount retailer 99 Cents Only Stores dipped 2.6 percent to $14.72 after it missed Wall Street expectations, reporting same-store sales fell 3.8 percent during the fourth quarter. The City of Commerce-based company also announced the hiring Norm Plotkin as senior vice president of store development.


And the stock price of Reinhold Industries Inc., the Santa Fe Springs-based manufacturer of advanced custom composite components, slipped 3.1 percent to $28.09

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