Stocks Struggle for Gains after Payrolls Report

U.S. stocks struggled for gains in early trading on Wednesday, after a report had the private sector creating more jobs than estimated in September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 14.94 points to 13,467.42. The S&P 500 was down 1.27 points to 1,444.48. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.82 points to 3,130.22.

A private survey shows that U.S. businesses added fewer workers in September than August, a sign that slow growth may be holding back hiring. Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that companies added 162,000 jobs last month. That’s below August’s total of 189,000, which was revised lower.

Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) Asian component suppliers have started mass production of a new tablet computer smaller than the current iPad, people with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday, as the Silicon Valley company tries to stay competitive against rivals such as Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. that are offering smaller, less expensive alternatives to the iPad.

Deutsche Telekom’s (DTEGY) board has approved a plan to combine T-Mobile USA with MetroPCS Communications (PCS) , according to reports on Wednesday.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)’s rivals may face government lawsuits claiming tens of billions of dollars in damages tied to investor losses on mortgage bonds after New York’s attorney general filed a fraud lawsuit against the nation’s biggest bank by assets.

Walgreen Co.(WAG) said its September same-store sales dropped 11.1%. Total sales for the month decreased by 7.8% to $5.48 billion. The Deerfield, Ill., company said comparable store pharmacy sales fell 16.1%, partly on a calendar day shift. Same-store pharmacy sales were also hit by 8.4 percentage points due to generic drug introductions in the last 12 months.

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