US STOCKS-Dow slips after economic data but RIM lifts Nasdaq

                                
 * Jobless rate rises to highest since 1983
                                
 * RIM jumps on strong results
                                
 * Dow off 0.4 pct, S&P 500 dips 0.1 pct, Nasdaq up 0.4 pct
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news click [STXNEWS/US]
 (Updates to early afternoon, changes byline)
                                
 By Rodrigo Campos
                                
 NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters) - The Dow industrials declined on
Friday, as bleak jobs data and a sharper contraction in the services
sector overshadowed reassuring results from BlackBerry maker Research
in Motion <RIM.TO> <RIMM.O>.
                                
 Wall Street received more confirmation about deterioration in the
labor market, when data showed the U.S. unemployment rate hit the
highest level since 1983 as employers cut 663,000 jobs in
March.[ID:nN03321597] The numbers, though, matched forecasts.
                                
 Another report showed the U.S. services sector shrank for the
sixth straight month in March as recession-weary consumers
tightened their belts. For details see [ID:nWEN6865]
                                
 But the Nasdaq rose, lifted by a surge in the U.S.-listed stock
of Canada's Research in Motion a day after the technology bellwether
posted surprisingly strong results. [ID:nN02275379] RIM jumped almost
22 percent to $59.84.
                                
 The broad S&P 500, however, was little changed.
                                
 "The unemployment number, no matter how you spin it, was not a
good thing, but Nasdaq is keeping this up today," said Joe Saluzzi,
co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.
                                
 "If RIM news wasn't around last night, today would have been
a bad day."
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 35.28 points, or
0.44 percent, to 7,942.80. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX>
shed just 0.74 of a point, or 0.09 percent, to 833.64. The Nasdaq
Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 6.37 points, or 0.40 percent, to
1,609.00.
                                
 At Thursday's close, the S&P 500 was up 23.3 percent from a more
than 12-year low set in early March, helped by growing optimism that
the economic slowdown is starting to moderate.
                                
 "This rally is overextended and I don't think it will
hold," Saluzzi added. "I think 23 percent off lows is a bit too
much at this point."
                                
 Even with the subdued tone, the market was on track for its
fourth straight week of gains.
                                
 An index of pharmaceutical stocks <.DRG> fell 2.2 percent, but
was still up more than 9 percent from last month's lows. The heaviest
weights on the blue-chip Dow average were Johnson & Johnson <JNJ.N>,
off 1.8 percent at $52.00, and Merck & Co <MRK.N>, down 2.9 percent
at $26.23, both in New York Stock Exchange trading.
                                
 In contrast, an S&P index of financial companies' stocks <.GSPF>
gained 0.5 percent.
                                
 Financial stocks cut earlier losses after Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed will use "all of its tools" to
stabilize markets and set the stage for an economic recovery, even
though he did not provide a time frame for when a recovery will
occur. [ID:nN03494942]
 (Editing by Jan Paschal)