Friday, December 11, 2009
Bad Jobs News - Market Goes Up
Despite disappointing jobless claims and gains for the dollar the markets went up Thursday. The Dow gained 68.78 points today to close at 10,405.83. The SPX added 7.13 points to end on 1,102.35. We are in the green and looking ok.
Jobless claims had been on a steady trend downward, but this was not the case for the latest week’s data. Jobless claims rose by 17,000 the week ending Dec. 5 to a level of 474,000. However, the four-week moving average fell by nearly 8,000 to a level of 473,750. Continuing claims for the prior week declined sharply, off by 303,000 to 5.157 million. The drop in claims isn’t due solely to job hirings, but also to the expiration of benefits. Of course, November’s nonfarm payroll report was much better than expected, so traders would like to see some follow up on this good news.
Retail stocks will be in the spotlight Friday with the November retail sales report due out early in the session.
Until next time.
Jobless claims had been on a steady trend downward, but this was not the case for the latest week’s data. Jobless claims rose by 17,000 the week ending Dec. 5 to a level of 474,000. However, the four-week moving average fell by nearly 8,000 to a level of 473,750. Continuing claims for the prior week declined sharply, off by 303,000 to 5.157 million. The drop in claims isn’t due solely to job hirings, but also to the expiration of benefits. Of course, November’s nonfarm payroll report was much better than expected, so traders would like to see some follow up on this good news.
Retail stocks will be in the spotlight Friday with the November retail sales report due out early in the session.
Until next time.
# posted by Paul @ 3:44 AM 
