Most stocks rise as earnings, jobless data overshadow Apple

The financial markets were mixed Thursday as blue chip stocks advanced despite a sharp decline in shares of Apple Inc.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, up more than 100 points early in the session, finished with a gain of 46.00 points at 13,825.33. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 23.29 points at 3,130.38 and the S&P 500 Stock Index was unchanged at 1,494.82.

The Department of Labor reported initial claims for jobless benefits fell by 5,000 in the past week to 330,000, the lowest level since January 2008. Also, the Conference Board reported its index of leading economic indicators rose in January, a sign of positive economic growth over the next six to nine months.

Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) fell $63.51 to $450.50 a share after company officials offered a cautious forecast for earnings in the current quarter.

Gold dropped $16.80 to $1,669.90 an ounce and oil was up 72 cents to $95.95 a barrel.

“We’ve been talking for a while that the market was going to get to 1,500,” Michael Vogelzang, chief investment officer at Boston Advisors LLC, which manages $2.4 billion, said by telephone. “The question now is, ‘To where from here?’” He said Apple’s drop is “a very interesting case in terms of understanding where the price should be and clearly the market doesn’t quite know.”

Stocks rose Wednesday as lawmakers voted to temporarily suspend the federal debt limit and Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) reported better-than-forecast earnings.

“People are just trying to digest all the earnings reports from all the various companies,” Giri Cherukuri, portfolio manager who helps manage $3 billion at Oakbrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Ill., said. “As long as the economy seems to get better, the stock market will do well.”

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) slumped 1.8 percent to $27.13 as the world’s biggest software maker posted a decline in net income for the fiscal second quarter.

Technology stocks lost 2 percent as a group during regular trading, for the biggest decline among 10 industries in the S&P 500.

Altera Corp. (Nasdaq: ALTR) erased 4.6 percent to $33.56. Fourth-quarter earnings at the maker of programmable chips used in phone systems were 37 cents a share, missing the average analyst estimate by 2 cents.

Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) soared 42 percent, its biggest gain ever, to $146.86. The company signed 2.05 million new U.S. Internet subscribers in the fourth quarter, bringing total domestic online customers to 27.2 million, it said Wednesday on its website. The gain led to a quarterly profit of 13 cents a share, compared with analysts’ predictions of a loss.

Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), the Seattle, Wash.-based online retailer, jumped 2.1 percent to $273.62. The company announced Thursday that it was acquiring IVONA Software, a text-to-speech technology company. EBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY), operator of the world’s largest online marketplace, advanced 3.4 percent to $55.19, its highest level since 2005.