4th APRIL

4:20 pm : After choppy action on Thursday, the market eventually finished the day with a slight gain. A better than expected ISM services report, and reassuring comments by a major financial firm’s CEO helped offset disappointment over a worse than expected unemployment claims reading. Testimony from several officials regarding the collapse and bailout of Bear Stearns (BSC 10.72, -0.14) dominated headlines, however, the stock market had a limited reaction. Initial jobless claims for the week ended March 29 jumped to 407,000 from 369,000. Economists expected 366,000 claims. This is the highest level of claims since September 2005. However, the data falls outside of March’s jobs report, so it will not have an impact on tomorrow’s reading.