--Stock futures gain ground, as ECB's rate cut provides
support
--Initial jobless claims fall more than expected
--Facebook up after quarterly revenue tops expectations
By Chris Dieterich and Tomi Kilgore
NEW YORK--Stocks advanced on the back of an upbeat report from
the U.S. labor market and the European Central Bank cut its key
interest rate.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 47 points, or 0.3%, to
14747 in the minutes after Thursday's opening bell. On Wednesday,
the Dow fell 139 points to snap a four-session win streak.
The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index tacked on six points,
or 0.4%, to 1588 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 16 points,
or 0.5%, to 3317.
European stocks held modest losses after the ECB cut its main
refinancing rate for the first time since July 2012, by a quarter
of a percentage point, a move that was widely anticipated. The
Stoxx Europe 600 was down by 0.4%.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said in a press
conference that the central bank is ready to act if needed, but
offered few signals that the ECB is ready to follow the Federal
Reserve and Bank of Japan in launching an asset-buying program to
invigorate Europe's economy.
"The rate cut alone is unlikely to have that much of an impact
and, ultimately, monetary policy alone won't be able to solve the
euro-zone's underlying problems," said Ioan Smith, managing
director of macro strategy at Knight Capital in London. "If there
are no accompanying measures, the concern will be that the ECB are
out of ideas."
The ECB's move comes as the euro-zone's economy is mired in an
economic slowdown. On Thursday, a reading on the euro-area's
manufacturing purchasing managers' index slipped to its lowest
reading in four months.
The rate cut "was right along expectations, so I don't know that
it really changes anything," said Brent Schutte, market strategist
at BMO Private Bank.
Facebook advanced 3.4% after the social network's first-quarter
earnings grew 6.8%, and the company's push into mobile devices
pushed revenue above analyst expectations.
Visa gained 4.1% after posting quarterly profit that exceeded
Wall Street's estimates late Wednesday, even as profits fell. The
payments network also raised its earnings forecast for the fiscal
year.
On the data front, Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell
to the lowest level in more than five years. Initial jobless
claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell by 18,000 to a seasonally
adjusted 324,000 in the most recent week, lower than forecasts for
a 345,000 new applications.
Thursday's reading come ahead of a closely watched reading on
job creation from the Labor Department due on Friday. Economists
expect that report to show nonfarm payrolls rising by 148,000,
versus a rise of 88,000 in March.
General Motors advanced 3.3% after reporting an 11% drop in its
first-quarter profit, although per-share earnings for the largest
U.S. auto maker by revenue exceeded the analyst estimates.
MetLife gained 1.7% after the insurer swung to a first-quarter
profit and recorded business growth across geographic regions,
including emerging markets.
Seagate Technology added 6.3% after the chip maker beat analyst
earnings expectations late Wednesday, even as fiscal third-quarter
profit fell 64% on slumping sales to personal-computer makers.
Yelp climbed 19% after the local listings website posted
better-than-forecast revenue growth in its most-recent quarter.
Asian markets were broadly lower amid further evidence that
China's economy is slowing. HSBC's manufacturing purchasing
managers' index for April fell to 50.4 from 51.6 in March, a day
after official government data showed a decline to 50.6 from
March's 50.9.
With mainland Chinese markets reopened for the first time this
week after the Labor Day holidays, the Shanghai Composite slipped
0.2% to the lowest close since Dec. 24. Japan's Nikkei Composite
lost 0.8%, its fourth-straight loss, ahead of a long holiday
weekend.
The U.S. dollar rose against the euro and the yen. Front-month
May gold futures rose 1.8% to $1,461 a troy ounce, bouncing back
from an equally-sized drop Wednesday. June crude-oil futures gained
0.7% to $91.66 a barrel.
Write to Chris Dieterich at christopher.dieterich@dowjones.com
and Tomi Kilgore at tomi.kilgore@dowjones.com