Stocks managed slight gains Thursday as investors continued to bet that the worst of the credit crisis is over, but advances were limited by some worries ahead of Friday's U.S. monthly jobs report. A jump in U.S. weekly jobless claims sparked concerns about Friday's employment report. Investors will be hoping to see that the job-creation report is not weaker than expected. The report is expected to show that U.S. employers cut 50,000 jobs from their payrolls last month, after cutting 63,000 the previous month. The unemployment level is expected to have risen to 5 percent from the previous month's 4.8 percent. In Thursday's economic news, the number of Americans filing new claims for employment benefits jumped last week to the highest level since September 2005, the government said. A private group reported that its U.S. service-sector index rose to a better-than-expected 49.6 in March from 49.3 the previous month. A reading below 50 indicates that the service sector is shrinking. Light sweet crude oil for May delivery fell 73 cents to $104.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Average U.S. retail gasoline prices rose to a new record high of nearly $3.29 a gallon (3.8 liters). Gold futures rose, and the U.S. dollar gained versus the euro and the yen. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 20.20, or nearly 0.2 percent, to 12,626.03. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.78, or 0.1 percent, to 1,369.31. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index was virtually unchanged, rising 1.90 to 2,363.30. Research in Motion (RIM) reported profits that more than doubled from a year ago, and shares of the BlackBerry wireless device maker rose 6 percent. Shares of Cisco Systems fell 2.5 percent. The New York Stock Exchange composite index rose 36.18 to 9,140.64. The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 7.48 to 2,258.59. And the Russell 2000 index rose 1.30 to 713.57.
