| Dow Roars Above 14,000 For First Time Since 2007 |
| Feb-01-2013 |
| Keywords: stocks, january, high, dow, jobless claims, personal income, |
A healthier jobs market, and jumps in both consumer confidence and manufacturing helped to lift stocks to new five-year highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average today jumped 149 points, closing above 14,000 for the first time since October 2007. The Nasdaq Composite closed the session up 37 points. The S&P 500 gained 15, closing back above 1500.
All three major stock indexes ended the week higher for a fifth straight week, logging gains of just under 1%.
Good news helped to put investors into a buying mood on Wall Street.
The Labor Department's January jobs figures did leave something to be desired. The economy last month added a weaker than expected 157,000 jobs, missing estimates of 165,000. And the unemployment rate ticked slightly higher to 7.9% in January.
The market however overlooked those headlines, instead focusing on unexpected improvement in 2012 jobs growth. Revised reports for December and November showed the economy grew an additional 127,000 jobs on the two-month period. For the year, average monthly job growth increased to 181,000, up 18% from the original estimate of 153,000.
Investors are also applauded better than expected reports on construction spending, consumer confidence and U.S. manufacturing.
The Institute for Supply Management reported that the U.S. manufacturing sector in January grew at its fastest rate in nine months. The ISM manufacturing index jumped to 53.1 in January from 50.2 in December, topping an expected reading of 50.6.
The final January reading on U.S. consumer confidence from Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan came in higher than expected. Its gauge of consumer sentiment in January improved to 73.8, a considerable improvement from a preliminary reading of 71.3.
And construction spending ended 2012 on a high note, up 0.9% in December. That was slightly higher than the expected increase of 0.8%, and helped drive overall construction spending up 9.2% last year, marking that strongest annual increase in seven years.
Earnings from Dow Components Chevron and ExxonMobil also boosted investor enthusiasm. Chevron Corp. fourth-quarter earnings rose 41% to $7.25 billion, or $3.70 a share. Revenue rose 1% to $60.55 billion.
ExxonMobil, the world's biggest publicly traded energy company topped Wall Street targets with earnings of $9.95 billion, or $2.20 a share, up 6% from a year ago. Analysts expected earnings of $1.99 a share. Revenue rose to $115.17 billion from $121.6 billion, roughly inline with estimates.
Pharmaceutical giant Merck also topped quarterly targets, posting adjusted earnings of 83 cents a share on revenue of $11.74 billion. However the company's cautious 2013 earnings forecast of $3.60 to $3.70, coupled with increased competition due to generic brands is weighing on the company's stock price. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 12:00 AM Email to a friend |
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