Jobless Claims Fall; S&P 500 Index Up 24%

123jump.com Staff
31 Dec, 2009
New York City

U.S. stocks trade sideways on the last of trading in the year. A fall in jobless claims in last week powered a slight gain in the dollar. Commodities gained and copper, gold and silver closed higher. Emerging markets defied skeptics to register 80% plus gains with steady fund flows.

[R]10:30 AM New York – U.S. stocks trade sideways on the last of trading in the year. S&P 500 index is up 25% for the year and the Dow has gained 20.2%. Russia led the world markets gains with a surge of 126% followed by surges in Brazil of 83% and advances of 81% in India and 80% in China.[/R]

U.S. stocks in the early trading drifted between gains and losses after the release of weekly jobless claims. The claims declined last week lifting bond yields. Commodities traded higher.

S&P 500 index is up for the year so far 25% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 20.2% as of close yesterday. Both indexes have rebounded more than 63% from their lows in March.

Seasonally adjusted weekly jobless claims decreased 22,000 to 432,000 from the revised previous week claims of 454,000. The preliminary insured unemployment rate in the week ending December 19 was 3.8%, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.8%.

Crude oil increased 42 cents to $79.70 a barrel and natural gas increased 14 cents to $5.85 per mBtu. Gold edged higher by $7.90 an ounce to $1,100.

Yields on 10-year Treasury bonds hovered near 3.87% and 30-year bonds near 4.68%. U.S. Treasury completed its $118 billion bond offering this week with the final sale of $32 billion of 7-year bonds that yielded 3.345%.

World markets in 2009 registered their best gains since 2003 as a rally in commodities and more than $11 trillion in stimulus boost investor confidence and arrest economic decline.

Russia leads the world markets with a rise of 126% followed by increase of 83% in Brazil and 80% in China and India.

Asian Markets Review

Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 375.88 or 1.75% to 21,872.50, ASX 200 index in Australia increased 37.30 or 0.77% to 4,870.60. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was higher 1.66 or 0.13% to 1,272.78. The Sensex index in India increased 120.99 or 0.70% to 17,464.81.

The Markets in Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia were closed today.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index traded higher 3.33 or 0.06% to 5,401.19, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 8.84 or 0.22% to 3,944.34.

The markets in Germany and Switzerland were closed today.