Stock Market News for December 5, 2011 - Market News
05 Dezembro 2011 - 7:06AM
Zacks
A robust week of gains that saw all
the benchmarks surge over 7% ended on a quiet note. On Friday,
markets gave up early gains to end almost flat. Initially,
benchmarks had been trading in the green after sentiments were
boosted by the nonfarm payroll data that reported the jobless rate
to have bottomed to a 2.5 years low.
A mixed day of trading finally saw
each of the benchmarks decline by less than 0.1%. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average (DJIA) slipped by 0.01% to remain almost
unchanged at 12,019.42. The Standard & Poor 500 (S&P 500)
was down 0.02% and settled at 1,244.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index
moved up 0.03% and finished at 2,626.93. With negligible change in
the benchmarks, the fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) edged
slightly higher to hover over 27.50. On the New York Stock
Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq, consolidated volumes remained low
at 7 billion shares, compared with the current daily average for
the year of 7.96 billion. For every three stocks that advanced on
the NYSE, two stocks were on the declining side.
On the economic front, reports have
mostly been an encouraging factor for the investors. Consumer,
retail, housing and jobs data came in strong and acted as catalysts
for the week’s robust gains. Also, The Institute for Supply
Management reported that the manufacturing sector had expanded in
November. Separately, the Fed’s Beige Book stated: “Overall
economic activity increased at a slow to moderate pace since the
previous report across all Federal Reserve Districts except St.
Louis, which reported a decline in economic activity”. Investors
also heaved a sigh of relief as a solution to lingering European
debt concern seemed to have emerged. On Tuesday, coordinated action
by the central banks to ease the cost of borrowing in dollars
helped the markets gain over 4%.
With all these catalysts spurring
the markets’ rally, the week saw the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq
end 7%, 7.4% and 7.6% higher, respectively. It was the Dow’s best
weekly performance since July 2009, and the S&P 500 recorded
its strongest weekly rally since March 2009.
Also on Friday, investors had
strong economic reports to talk about. The U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported that nonfarm payroll employment had risen by
120,000 in November, and the unemployment rate dropped to a 2.5
years low of 8.6%. According to the report: “Employment continued
to trend up in retail trade, leisure and hospitality, professional
and business services, and health care. Government employment
continued to trend down”. Consensus estimates for the period had
projected the unemployment rate to come in at 9%.
This job reports follows data from
Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADP) released on Wednesday,
according to which the private sector added a seasonally adjusted
206,000 jobs in November, the largest increase in hiring since
December 2010. The only note of dissent on the employment situation
came from the U.S. Department of Labor which reported that
unemployment benefits had moved up for the second consecutive week.
According to the report, initial claims increased 6,000 from the
previous week to a seasonally adjusted figure of 402,000, for the
week ending November 26.
Coming to sectoral stocks, the
financial sector garnered most of the gains and the Financial
Select Sector SPDR (XLF) fund was up 1.4%. Stocks including Bank of
America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co.
(NYSE:JPM), Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE:C), The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
(NYSE:GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Wells Fargo & Company
(NYSE:WFC) surged 2.0%, 6.1%, 4.4%, 3.0%, 7.0% and 1.7%,
respectively.
On the European front, a report
from Bloomberg cited that the European Central Bank might be
preparing to make a payment of $270 billion to the International
Monetary Fund to deal with the lingering debt crisis.
AUTOMATIC DATA (ADP): Free Stock Analysis Report
BANK OF AMER CP (BAC): Free Stock Analysis Report
CITIGROUP INC (C): Free Stock Analysis Report
GOLDMAN SACHS (GS): Free Stock Analysis Report
JPMORGAN CHASE (JPM): Free Stock Analysis Report
MORGAN STANLEY (MS): Free Stock Analysis Report
WELLS FARGO-NEW (WFC): Free Stock Analysis Report
Zacks Investment Research
Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Jun 2024 até Jul 2024
Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP)
Gráfico Histórico do Ativo
De Jul 2023 até Jul 2024