On Wall Street, stock prices rose on Friday for the third consecutive day, as data showing a smaller decline in employment than expected sparked hope that the U.S. economy would not plunge back into recession.
The Dow Jones index strengthened by 127 points, or 1.24 percent, to 10,447 points, while the S&P 500 rose by 1.32 percent to 1,104 points, and the Nasdaq index increased by 1.53 percent to 2,233 points. In August, the U.S. lost 54,000 jobs, što je znatno manje od 100.000, koliko su očekivali analitičari, pa su ulagači pozitivno reagirali.
"The economic recovery is slow, but at least steady, što bi trebalo dati nešto vjetra u jedra tržištu. The possibility of a double-dip recession was significantly factored into stock prices, and now those fears have diminished," says Mike Dueker, director at Russell Investments. However, not everyone is euphoric, as employment has been declining for three consecutive months, and the private sector has yet to begin significantly increasing the number of employees. Indeed, in August, 67,000 jobs were created in that sector, more than expected, but still below levels that would confirm that economic growth is healthy.
"The private sector should be increasing the number of employees by more than 100,000 monthly for us to claim that we will not plunge back into recession. And if more than 150,000 workers were hired monthly, then we would be confident that economic growth is sustainable," says Bill Hampel, an analyst at the Credit Union National Association. Despite the strong jump in stock prices, trading volume was again thin. On Wall Street, the American Stock Exchange, and Nasdaq, 6.6 billion shares changed hands yesterday, while last year’s daily average was 9.65 billion. Meanwhile, the ratio of stocks that gained value to those that lost value was 18 to 5.
