Stocks ended Wednesday's volatile session mixed, with the Dow industrials hitting a five-month high and the Nasdaq falling significantly, as cautious investors considered two reports showing continued weakness in the U.S. labor market. The three major indexes jumped about 2 percent each on Tuesday to their highest levels since May, but the enthusiasm disappeared Wednesday as the pessimistic jobs figures hurt investor sentiment ahead of the government's September jobs report to be released Friday. Economists expect job creation to have been flat in September and the unemployment rate to have risen to 9.7 percent from 9.6 percent the previous month. In Wednesday's reports, payroll firm ADP said the U.S. private sector lost 39,000 jobs last month, in contrast to economist expectations for a gain of 18,000 jobs. Another firm reported that the number of job cuts planned by employers rose slightly in September. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday a second U.S. recession is unlikely but global economic growth will slow from 4.8 percent this year to 4.2 percent in 2011. The U.S. dollar fell versus the euro and the yen. Light sweet crude oil for November delivery rose 41 cents to $83.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures rose $7.40 to a new record high of $1,347.70 an ounce. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 22.93, or 0.2 percent, to 10,967.65, a five-month high. Gains were let by Alcoa and General Electric (GE), whose shares rose 2.4 percent after the conglomerate announced it was buying energy technology and service provider Dressing for $3 billion. Shares of Verizon Communications rose 1 percent on reports that Apple is building an iPhone for use on Verizon's wireless network. Losers included AT&T-currently the only U.S. provider for the iPhone-and Bank of America. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was little changed, falling 0.78 to 1,159.97. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 19.17, or 0.8 percent, to 2,380.66.
