Markets Mixed As Job Losses Fall Less Than Expected

December 02, 2009 at 12:13 PM EST

While job losses fell last month, the decline was not as great as expected. The markets traded mixed during the midday with the Dow falling 38 points to 10,433 while Nasdaq added 4 points to 2180.

On the upside

Morgan Stanley upgraded United Air Lines parent UAL (Nasdaq: UAUA) and American Airlines parent AMR (NYSE: AMR).

AirTran Holdings (NYSE: AAI) reported that traffic increased by 10.5% in November to over 1.4 billion revenue passenger miles.

Western Refining (NYSE: WNR) president, director and chief operating officer Jeff A. Stevens purchased 50,000 shares of company stock.

On the downside

China BAK Battery (Nasdaq: CBAK) disappointed by swinging to a fourth quarter loss as revenue dropped sharply.

Cummins (NYSE: CMI) announced the temporary layoff of up to 450 employees at its Chautauqua County facility.

Goldman Sachs analyst Drucker Mann downgraded Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) saying that consumers will continue to spend less on alcohol purchases.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 3 to 2 on both the NYSE and by 9 to 7 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks added 4 points to 593.