Stocks lose altitude even though Twitter IPO soars

This combination of Associated Press file photos shows left the Twitter bird logo and traders for Barclays Capital on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.(Photo AP)

Story HighlightsTwitter shares first trade is $45.10 up 74% from $26 offering priceEuropean Central Bank cuts key interest rate surprising investorsECB move spurs rally in European stock market

NEW YORK Twitter's first day of trading started off bullish with the shares soaring as much as 90% in early trading but the broad U.S. stock market trended lower despite the hot IPO.

Stocks got an early boost Thursday after the European Central Bank surprised investors by cutting a key interest rate to a record low.

The big story today of course is Twitter. The micro blogging service started trading today under the TWTR symbol. The company priced its shares at $26 each on Wednesday which means it will raise around $2.1 billion from the IPO amid strong demand. The stock's first trade which came a little before 11 a.m. ET was at $45.10 a 73.5% jump from its offering price. Shares rose as high as $50.09 and were up $19.95 or 76% to $45.95 in early afternoon trading.

MARKET DEBUT Twitter soars in first day of trading

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Despite the Twitter hype and sharp climb the Dow Jones industrial average index was down 0.4% to 15 667 in early afternoon trading. The S

tandard Poor's 500 index was 0.7% lower at 1 758 and the Nasdaq composite index tumbled 1.3% to 3 881.

On Wednesday the Dow climbed 0.8% to a record high of 15 746.88 the SP 500 rose 0.4% to 1 770.49 and the Nasdaq ended down 0.2% to 3 931.95.

STOCKS Dow hits new closing high Nasdaq slips

In macroeconomic news the ECB cut a key interest rate to 0.25% a record low from 0.5% at the conclusion of its policy meeting Thursday to shore up a recovery from recession and combat a sharp drop in inflation.

The major European benchmarks which were trading mostly flat before the ECB's surprise rate cut briefly rallied on the news before pulling back. Germany's DAX 30 index rose 40.16 or 0.4% to close at 9 081.03. But stocks in the U.K. and France closed lower. France's benchmark CAC 40 fell 5.94 or 0.1% to 4 280.99 and Britain's FTSE 100 index dropped 44.47 or 0.7% to 6 697.22.

In economic news the government reported that that the economy grew at a 2.8% clip in third quarter far above the 2% growth analysts polled by Bloomberg News expected and better than the 2.5% growth rate in the second quarter.

Initial jobless claims fell 9 000 to 336 000 suggesting continued improvement in the U.S. labor market amid a slowly improving economy.

In the commodities market benchmark crude oil prices for December delivery were down 59 cents at $94.21 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.43 to close at $94.80 a barrel on Wednesday.

Asian stock markets were mostly weaker Thursday with a cautious mood prevailing ahead of key U.S. data that will provide further clues on when the Federal Reserve will cut monetary stimulus. The Nikkei 225 index fell 0.8% to 14 228.44 in Japan.

Contributing Associated Press

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