| Stocks Turn In Strong Weekly Gains |
| Jan-04-2013 |
| Keywords: stocks, jobs, non farm payrolls, services, factory orders, weekly gains, stock market, commodities, federal reserve, bond purchases |
Stocks on Wall Street finish the trading session modestly higher, capping what was a stellar week for the market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 44 points on the day. The Nasdaq Composite rose a point. The S&P 500 gained 7 points to close at the highest level since 2007.
For the week, the Dow tallied an impressive 3.8% gain. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 4.8%. And the S&P 500 climbed 4.6%, logging its strongest weekly percentage gain in more than a year.
Investors today showed modest enthusiasm towards mostly upbeat news on the economy. Non-farm payrolls in December rose inline with expectations, up 155,000 from November. The private sector grew payrolls by 168,000 while government employment shed 13,000. Construction, health-care and manufacturing combined created some 100,000 jobs last month.
The unemployment last month came in at 7.8%. While that is slightly higher than the 7.7% reading in November, the unemployment rate is viewed as unchanged because the increase is a result of an annual adjustment by the Labor Department.
The market did get some great news on the services sector, which expanded more than expected. The ISM services index for December rose to ten month high of 56.1%, surpassing the expected reading of 54.7%.
The only disappointing news came on factory orders during the month of November. The Commerce Department reported that orders, which were expected to rise by .3%, were flat in November. The report highlighted weak demand for transportation items, specifically civilian and military aircraft, as the primary drag on monthly factory orders.
Lingering concerns over several Federal Reserve officials suggesting that Fed bond purchases should be slowed or stopped by the end of 2013 took a toll on precious metals. Gold prices ended the day down 1.5% to close at $1,648.90 an ounce. Losses were far worse in the silver market. The March silver contract finished trading down 3.25%, closing at $29.95 an ounce.
Crud oil prices meanwhile found support from news of a steeper than expected drop in weekly crude inventories. The Energy Department today reported that crude inventories last week fell by 11-million barrels, far steeper than the 1-million barrel decline the market was expecting. By day's end, crude finished 17 cents higher, settling at $93.09 a barrel, 2.5% higher for the week. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 10:00 PM Email to a friend |
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