Stocks Hit 3-1/2-Year Highs on Jobs Jump - liberals silent..
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
From multiple sources. Article below is linked (headline is linked).
Stocks Hit 3-1/2-Year Highs on Jobs Jump
Fri Mar 4, 4:48 PM ET
By Megan Davies
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. blue-chip stocks surged to their highest close in more than 3-1/2 years on Friday after a better-than-expected jobs report boosted optimism about the economy but didn't raise worries about accelerated interest-rate hikes.
The Dow closed at its highest level since June 2001, putting it back in sight of the psychologically important 11,000 mark, while the S&P 500 closed at its highest since July 2001.
...
Only three of the 30 Dow stocks closed lower.
"The catalyst for the rally today is the payroll report," said Brian Pears, head of equity trading at Victory Capital Management. "I think that most traders thought the economy was in relatively good shape, but this gives us an inkling that the economy is even stronger than we thought."
For the week, the Dow was up 0.91 percent, the S&P 500 rose 0.89 percent, and the Nasdaq was up 0.25 percent.
Strategists had been hoping the jobs report would be robust enough to push the Dow and the S&P 500 through closing highs carved out in December.
"For the last few weeks, we've been in a pretty flat trading range," Pears said. "But the longer you go sideways, the more likely it is that when you break out, there'll be some kind of dramatic move -- so you could look at this as pent-up buying demand from a market that really couldn't make any progress for a few weeks."
February's jobs creation of 262,000 was the biggest gain in four months, the Labor Department said. The jobs gain boosted sentiment about the economy, while inflationary worries were soothed by a static hourly earnings rate.
Treasuries prices rallied after the latest report soothed worries about wage-driven inflation, likely allowing the Federal Reserve to stick with its measured pace of interest- rate hikes. The price of the benchmark 10-year note climbed 17/32, while its yield eased to 4.32 percent from 4.38 percent on Thursday.
The S&P index of banking stocks was up 1.2 percent.
Pears said that "today, we're getting participation from financial stocks, which is the first time in a while we've seen that group do OK.
"The fact that interest rates are lower -- we've had a rally in bonds -- has helped an awful lot and calmed people down a bit in that area."
... more at linked article
News like this comes out, and liberals like COL Gene sit on their hands.
Why? Because this type of news bodes well for the Social Security Plan that President Bush has been advocating. Because it bodes well for the economy. And because it bodes well for President Bush.
No bad news = bad news for liberals.
Sorry liberals, hope you all continue to get to be pessimistic about the lack of bad news."
Stocks Hit 3-1/2-Year Highs on Jobs Jump
Fri Mar 4, 4:48 PM ET
By Megan Davies
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. blue-chip stocks surged to their highest close in more than 3-1/2 years on Friday after a better-than-expected jobs report boosted optimism about the economy but didn't raise worries about accelerated interest-rate hikes.
The Dow closed at its highest level since June 2001, putting it back in sight of the psychologically important 11,000 mark, while the S&P 500 closed at its highest since July 2001.
...
Only three of the 30 Dow stocks closed lower.
"The catalyst for the rally today is the payroll report," said Brian Pears, head of equity trading at Victory Capital Management. "I think that most traders thought the economy was in relatively good shape, but this gives us an inkling that the economy is even stronger than we thought."
For the week, the Dow was up 0.91 percent, the S&P 500 rose 0.89 percent, and the Nasdaq was up 0.25 percent.
Strategists had been hoping the jobs report would be robust enough to push the Dow and the S&P 500 through closing highs carved out in December.
"For the last few weeks, we've been in a pretty flat trading range," Pears said. "But the longer you go sideways, the more likely it is that when you break out, there'll be some kind of dramatic move -- so you could look at this as pent-up buying demand from a market that really couldn't make any progress for a few weeks."
February's jobs creation of 262,000 was the biggest gain in four months, the Labor Department said. The jobs gain boosted sentiment about the economy, while inflationary worries were soothed by a static hourly earnings rate.
Treasuries prices rallied after the latest report soothed worries about wage-driven inflation, likely allowing the Federal Reserve to stick with its measured pace of interest- rate hikes. The price of the benchmark 10-year note climbed 17/32, while its yield eased to 4.32 percent from 4.38 percent on Thursday.
The S&P index of banking stocks was up 1.2 percent.
Pears said that "today, we're getting participation from financial stocks, which is the first time in a while we've seen that group do OK.
"The fact that interest rates are lower -- we've had a rally in bonds -- has helped an awful lot and calmed people down a bit in that area."
... more at linked article
News like this comes out, and liberals like COL Gene sit on their hands.
Why? Because this type of news bodes well for the Social Security Plan that President Bush has been advocating. Because it bodes well for the economy. And because it bodes well for President Bush.
No bad news = bad news for liberals.
Sorry liberals, hope you all continue to get to be pessimistic about the lack of bad news."