Jobs Report Lift Dow to 18-month High

123jump.com Staff
02 Apr, 2010
New York City

U.S. stocks traded higher in a quiet trading after March employment increased 162,000. Treasuries fell and the Dow closed at 180-month high in futures trading. Markets in Europe, UK, India, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Australia are closed today. The dollar advanced against the yen to 10-month high.

[R]12:00 PM New York – U.S. stocks traded higher in a quiet trading after March employment increased 162,000. Treasuries fell and the Dow closed at 180-month high in futures trading. Markets in Europe, UK, India, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Australia are closed today. The dollar advanced against the yen to 10-month high.[/R]

U.S. stocks rallied in the early trading after March employment increased 162,000, the largest monthly increase in three years. Unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.7%.

Treasuries fell on the increase in March employment and the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 70.44 or 0.65% to 10927.07, eighteen-month high.

March non-farm payroll employment rose 162,000 but the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.7%. The temporary hiring picked as U.S. hired staff for Census 2010. Long term unemployment increased by 414,000 to 6.5 million.

In March 44% of the unemployed were jobless for 27 weeks or more according to the latest data released by the Labor Department in Washington.

Commodities, Currencies Bonds

Futures markets closed at 9:15 a.m. ET and bond markets will close at noon.

The dollar edged higher against the euro in New York trading to $1.3487 and to 94.61 yen.

Immediate futures of gold increased $11.60 an ounce and copper futures gained 3.05 cents to $3.58 per pound.

Crude oil futures increased $1.11 to $84.87 a barrel and natural gas futures added 22 cents to $4.09 per mBtu.

The yield of 10-year U.S. bonds increased to 3.94% and 30-year bonds edged up to 4.81% after the release of March payrolls data.

Stock Movers

InterMune Inc gained after hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen, the founder and manager of SAC Capital Advisors LP acquired 8.2% stake in the company for passive investment objective according to a regulatory filing.

Tesoro Corp declined after it confirmed a blast at about 12:30 a.m. Pacific time at its refinery near Seattle, Washington that killed three people and injured at least four people.

Verizon Communications Inc estimated non-cash charge of $970 million in the first quarter.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 41.69 or 0.37% to 11,286.09, and CSI 300 index in China higher 15.41 or 0.45% to 3,407.35. The FTSE Bursa KL Composite index in Malaysia was higher 6.10 or 0.46% to 1,335.94. Markets in Hong Kong & Australia were closed today.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 4.32 or 0.25% to close at 1,723.49. SET index in Thailand closed lower 0.17 or 0.02% to 801.15. Markets in Indonesia & India were closed today.