The Closing Bell, 11/6: KC Southern keeps on chuggin

Shares in Kansas City Southern moved this week with all the subtlety of a railroad locomotive: Fast and straight.

The stock added another 10 cents of gains Friday to close the week at $27.93. That marked four consecutive daily gains following news that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway planned to spend $34 billion to buy rail competitor Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.

Kansas City Southern stock is up about 16 percent for the week.

Other local movers Friday included Cerner, up 45 cents, Commerce Bancshares, up 57 cents, and Garmin, up 29 cents.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated in a tight range Friday as investors found some positives for the market in a surprisingly weak jobs report.

The Labor Department said employers cut more jobs than expected in October, pushing the unemployment rate above 10 percent for the first time since 1983.

The rise in joblessness, while not welcome news for the economy, reassured some investors that the Federal Reserve will have to hold interest rates lower for some time.

That weakened demand for the dollar, which gave a boost to stocks.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 17.46 points, or .17 percent, to close at 10,023.42.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index added 2.67 points, or .25 percent, to close at 1,069.30.

The Nasdaq composite index climbed 7.12 points, or .34 percent, to close at 2,112.44.

An early reading of the KansasCity.com index of 145 regional companies showed a gain of 2.70 points, or .45 percent, to 606.18.

Among Kansas City area companies of interest:
I Cerner Corp. closed at $77.45, up 45 cents.

I Capitol Federal Financial closed at $29.67, down 4 cents.

I Commerce Bancshares Inc. closed at $39.34, up 57 cents.

I DST Systems Inc. closed at $42.91, down 24 cents.

I Garmin Ltd. closed at $28.43, up 29 cents.

I Great Plains Energy closed at $17.35, up 12 cents.

I H&R Block Inc. closed at $18.94, up 22 cents.

I Kansas City Southern closed at $27.93, up 10 cents.

I Sprint Nextel Corp. closed at $2.85, up 2 cents.

I UMB Financial Corp. closed at $39.18, down 34 cents.

I Waddell & Reed Financial Corp. closed at $29.81, up 12 cents.

I YRC Worldwide Inc. closed at $1.22, down 7 cents.

The Closing Bell is compiled from staff and wire reports by Steve Rosen. Call him at 816-234-4879 or send e-mail to srosen@kcstar.com. A recap of the day’s markets activity is available in the Business section of The Kansas City Star.