U.S. stocks unable get much traction

New York -- U.S. investors returned from a holiday break to a rather flat market Thursday, unable to pick up much traction despite a surge in hotel speculation.

The big flurry followed Blackstone's $26 billion deal to acquire Hilton hotels and who might be next in a possibly budding time of takeovers.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 11.46 points, or 0.08 percent, at 13,565.84. Nasdaq was up 11.70, or 0.44 percent, at 2,656.65 and the Standard & Poor 500 gained 0.53, or 0.03 percent at 1,525.40.

The volume was 1.38 billion shares, with 1,492 stocks gaining and 1,800 declining.

Crude oil rose 40 cents to $71.81 a barrel, rallying from an earlier swoon sparked by government data showing an unexpectedly large increase in crude stockpiles. During its earlier surge, crude topped $72 a barrel temporarily, hitting its highest point since Sept. 11.

Bonds fell. The 10-year note declined 25/32, or $7.8125 for every $1,000 invested, to yield 5.14 percent Thursday.

The dollar strengthened. The euro was trading at $1.3596 from $1.3612 late Wednesday, while the dollar was at 122.985 yen from 122.35 yen.

Overseas, Tokyo's Nikkei closed up 0.3 percent at 18,221.48 and London's FTSE was up 0.1 percent at 6,676.50.

In U.S. economy news, the Labor Department said jobless claims were up 2,000 to 318,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis last week, pretty much as expected.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.