At mid-afternoon in New York on Thursday, the equities markets were mixed ahead of the monthly report on employment, due on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1 percent to 12,667.03, while the S&P 500 had gained 0.3 percent to 1,442.45, and the Russell 2000 index of small and mid-caps was 0.5 percent higher to 804.57. Only the Nasdaq Composite was lower, falling 0.1 percent to 2,461.61.
The Nasdaq was hurt by results from Google, which lost almost $9 per share to $492.69 by midday even though it reported a substantial increase in profits. Elsewhere in computer-related sectors, Dell Computer did better after it reported that chairman Michael Dell had returned to his role as chief executive. Even though it said that it wouldn’t make estimated profits and sales in the fourth quarter, Dell added 0.7 percent to $24.39.
ExxonMobil provided what was probably the biggest talking point of the day as it reported that while profits were down 4 percent in the fourth quarter, profits for the full year were at $39.5 billion, the most ever reported by a US company, on revenues of $377.64 billion. Exxon shares added 1 percent to $74.82.
In a related sector, Archer Daniels Midland, which produces ethanol among other activities, added 10.7 percent to $35.43 after it reported profits were up 20 percent.
In the securities sector, Lehman Brothers added 2.4 percent to $84.22 after it announced that it has raised its dividend by 25 percent and upped its buy-back plan.