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Dow Average Rises to Record as Jobless Claims Decline

*from www.bloomberg.com, Mar. 7, 2013 (To view original article click here.)

Take Away #1: The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed to another record high as the number of Americans who filed for unemployment benefits fell to a six-week low.

Key Facts and Figures:

  • The Dow rose 45.92 points, or 0.3% to a record 14,342.16 today.
  • The S&P 500 Index (SPX) added 0.2% to 1,544.79, at 11:43 a.m. in New York, the highest level on a closing basis since Oct. 31, 2007.
  • Trading in S&P 500 companies was 12% below the 30-day average at this time of day.
  • The benchmark index has surged 128% from a 12-year low in 2009 as companies reported better than estimated earnings and the Fed embarked on three rounds of bond purchases to stimulate the economy.
  • Bank of America Corp. rallied 2.4% as financial stocks advanced.
  • Cienna Corp. and JDS Uniphase Corp. surged at least 7.5%.
  • Colgate-Palmolove Co. jumped 0.5%.

Take Away #2: First-time jobless claims fell and payrolls may have risen.

Key Facts and Figures:

  • First-time jobless claims fell 7,000 to 340,000 in the week ended March 2.
  • A Labor Department report tomorrow may show nonfarm payrolls rose by 163,000 last month while the unemployment rate held steady at 7.9%.
  • The general employment picture in the U.S. has stabilized, says chief economist at Warren Financial Service.

Take Away #3: European Central Bank President believes the euro-area economy will gradually recover later this year, and ECB predicts the economy will shrink.

Key Facts and Figures:

  • The ECB today predicted the 17-nation economy will shrink 0.4% this year, more than the 0.3% contraction forecast three months ago.
  • The central bank lowered its 2014 inflation projection to 1.3% from 1.4%.
  • ECB President Mario Draghi says that while risks to the economic outlook are on the downside, risks to the inflation outlook remain “broadly balanced.”

Take Away #4: Brian Belski of BMO Capital Markets calls the whole market a ‘Bunker’ bull market, meaning people are still in the bunker and not really believing in it quite yet.

Key Facts and Figures:

  • Financial companies rallied the most out of the 10 S&P 500 groups, jumping 0.5%.
  • 21 of the 24 members in the KBW Bank Index (BKX) rose, as the gauge climbed 1%.
  • Investors bought shares of companies tied to economic growth, sending energy, material, and industrial stocks percent higher among S&P 500 groups.

*To view original article from www.bloomberg.com click here.

Filed in: Latest, Markets

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