* ADP private-sector job figures worse than expected
* Gold futures rally as investors turn to safe assets
* Dow up 0.03 pct, S&P 500 up 0.02 pct, Nasdaq up 0.2 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click STXNEWS/US
(Updates to late afternoon, changes byline)
By Angela Moon
NEW YORK, Sept 2 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks managed to hold
on to tiny gains on Wednesday afternoon as jitters about the
economy kept investors from returning to the market in full
force after three straight days of declines.
A labor-market report showing more private-sector job
losses in August than forecast made investors more nervous
ahead of Friday's highly anticipated monthly jobs data from
the U.S. Labor Department. For details, see []
The weak data also prompted stock investors to shift some
of their money into assets deemed safe such as precious
metals, sending gold futures up to their highest level in
almost in almost three months. []
"We don't see any big rebound after the declines we've had
because people are still wary ... waiting for more solid
numbers from Friday's non-farm payrolls," said Chad
Morganlander, portfolio manager at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co in
Florham Park, New Jersey.
He added that "investors are turning to gold as a hedge"
against financial malady, suggesting a high anxiety level on
Wall Street.
The current mean estimate of economists polled by Reuters
is for a loss of 225,000 jobs in Friday's non-farm payrolls
report for August.
Financial shares once again led decliners. The KBW Bank
Index <.BKX> lost 1.4 percent, with regional banks, such as
SunTrust Banks <STI.N> down 6.9 percent at $20.24.
Regions Financials <RF.N> was down 5.6 percent at $5.23.
Moving up were shares of gold producers as the price of
<GCZ9> rallied to $978.60 an ounce. Shares of Gold Fields
Ltd. <GFI.N> gained nearly 10 percent to $13.03 and the NYSE
Arca Gold Bugs Index <.HUI> rose 7.5 percent to 377.35.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> was up 2.72
points, or 0.03 percent, at 9,313.32. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was up 0.21 of a point, or 0.02 percent, at
998.25. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was up 2.89 points,
or 0.15 percent, at 1,971.78.
The S&P 500 has climbed about 50 percent from a 12-year
closing low in early March, leading some investors to
speculate that a correction may be on the way.
On the Nasdaq, Dell Inc <DELL.O> was up 1.1 percent at
$15.37.
Another bright spot in Wednesday's market was the health
insurance group, with the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor
index <.HMO> advancing 4.2 percent to 1,212.88. WellCare
Health <WCG.N> gained 2.1 percent to $23.68 while Aetna Inc
<AET.N> climbed 3.7 percent to $28.89.
(Editing by Jan Paschal)
