Stocks are flat in early trading on Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) ? Major stock indexes are mixed in early trading Friday after a drop in U.S. consumer prices and a strong survey of Chinese manufacturing failed to excite investors.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged up five points at 13,176 a half hour after the opening bell.

Adobe jumped 7 percent after the maker of Photoshop editing software and other applications reported results that beat analysts' expectations. More subscribers for its online Creative Cloud online service helped drive revenue and earnings up. Adobe's stock gained $2.23 to $37.76.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index edged down 4 points to 1,416 while the Nasdaq composite dipped 15 points to 2,976.

Of the 10 industries in the S&P 500 index, technology and energy stocks are down the most.

The Labor Department said a steep fall in gas prices pushed down a measure of consumer prices last month. The consumer price index edged down 0.3 percent in November from October. Gas prices sank 7.4 percent, the biggest drop in nearly four years. Consumer prices have risen 1.8 percent over the past year.

The report helped nudge up prices for U.S. government debt, pushing yields down. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to 1.71 percent, down from 1.73 percent late Thursday. When inflation is weak, it suggests that interest rates are unlikely to jump, and bond prices unlikely to drop, anytime soon.

Asian markets rose earlier Friday, when HSBC said manufacturing activity in China is picking up. Its index for December rose to 50.9, a slight increase from the previous month. Anything above 50 is a sign of growth.

Among other stocks making big moves:

? Best Buy sank 15 percent, losing $2.20 to $11.91. The struggling electronics retailer and one of its founders, Richard Schulze, agreed to give Schulze more time to assemble a bid for the company. That erased most of the gains made Thursday when Best Buy's stock jumped 16 percent following a report that said Schulze would make a bid by the end of the week.

? Silver Bay Realty Trust rose 14 cents to $18.64 in its first day of trading. Silver Bay raised $245.1 million in its initial public offering on Thursday at an IPO price of $18.50. It plans on using the money to buy thousands of single-family homes and rent them out, as the U.S. housing market slowly heals.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-flat-early-trading-wall-street-144556285--finance.html

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