Stocks edge higher after mixed earnings reports

NEW YORK (AP) — A surprise jump in applications for unemployment benefits and mixed earnings from large U.S. companies kept stocks on a short leash Thursday. Indexes ended slightly higher, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 closing a half point below 1,300.

The Dow Jones industrial average traded above 12,000 for most of the day but failed to close above that level for the second day in a row. The Dow hasn’t closed above 12,000 since June 19, 2008, just as the financial crisis was worsening.

Procter & Gamble Co., the maker of consumer products like Tide detergent, fell 2.9 percent, the largest drop among the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones average. P&G said rising commodity prices are pinching its profits.

AT&T Inc. fell 2 percent after saying that new wireless contracts fell to the lowest level in more than five years. Caterpillar Inc. rose 0.9 percent after its fourth-quarter profit quadrupled on strong global demand for mining and construction equipment.

The S&P 500 rose 2.91 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 1,299.54. The last time the index closed above 1,300 was Aug. 28, 2008.

The Dow inched up 4.39 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 11,989.83. The index broke through 12,000 Wednesday for the first time since June 2008 but slipped in the late afternoon.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 15.78, or 0.6 percent, to 2,755.28.

First-time applications for unemployment rose to 454,000 last week, the highest level since late October. Economists had expected the number to rise to 407,000. Snowstorms in some parts of the country forced companies to lay off workers, economists said.

A government-appointed panel said Thursday that the financial crisis could have been avoided if Wall Street executives and government officials had properly managed risks. The panel said that the Bush and Clinton administrations, the Federal Reserve and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner share responsibility for allowing the crisis to happen. The panel’s conclusions had been leaked ahead of its formal report and were widely expected on Wall Street.

Netflix Inc. jumped 15 percent to $210. Netflix reported that its subscriber base rose above 20 million customers, after the market closed Wednesday. The stock has quadrupled over the last 12 months.

Rising stocks narrowly outpaced falling ones on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was relatively thin at 992 million shares.