7:39 am - US DJIA overnite report

By Geoffrey Rogow Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Reports on earnings and employment helped fueled a rally for materials and consumer stocks Thursday, suchas Dow Chemical and Kellogg, though a pullback for energy behemoths had stocks closing slightly lowerThursday.For the session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 17.61 points, or 0.22%, to 8168.12. Pacingthe decline was a wave of selling in the energy sector, including Exxon Mobil, off 1.77, or 2.6%, at66.67. In addition, Noble Energy slid 3.52, or 5.8%, to 56.75, as the oil and gas producer swung to afirst-quarter loss on $291 million in unrealized hedging write-downs.

In a volatile session that saw a consumer-led rally help push the Dow Jones Industrial Average up morethan 100 points early, much of an afternoon slide began after President Barack Obama said Chrysler LLCwill file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. While the move was expected, trading desks noted it provideda reminder that economically sensitive companies remain on weak footing, even after many have paced amore than month-long surge for the market.Still, the Dow closed up 9% for the month.

In other indexes, the Standard & Poor's 500 lost 0.83 point,or 0.10%, to 872.81, Thursday, but closed up 11% for April, while the Nasdaq Composite Thursday gained5.36, or 0.31%, to 1717.30 and finished April up 14%.

The tone on the day's trading, and for much of the past few weeks, continued to revolve around the waveof first-quarter earnings reports. Though few quarterly reports have shown a surge in corporate growth,investors are increasingly optimistic on what companies have done recently to combat the recession."The timeline of analysis has shifted from a couple days to a couple weeks and even months," said StephenLieber, chief investment officer for the Alpine Dynamic Balance Fund.

"This is an adjustment period andwe're realizing that, if you went back to early March, companies were just being given away if you assumednormalized earnings for the last five years."Among the leading gainers, Dow Chemical tacked on 2.49, or 18%, to 16, as it posted a small but unexpectedfirst-quarter profit; cost cutting and a steep drop in feedstock prices helped it offset slumping demandfor chemicals.Consumer companies were also at the heart of any gains Thursday. Aside from earnings, a report from theU.S. Labor Department showed initial claims for state jobless benefits sank last week.Kellogg was particularly strong as its first-quarter net income edged up 1.3% on the strength of its NorthAmerican sales as the packaged-food company's earnings beat Wall Street expectations.

Kellogg closedup 2.61, or 6.6%, at 42.11. Meanwhile, Starbucks gained 77 cents, or 5.6%, to 14.46, on Nasdaq, afterposting a decline in fiscal second-quarter net income, but saying it topped its cost-cutting target forthe quarter and began to see benefits from its turnaround efforts. -By Geoffrey Rogow, Dow Jones Newswires;