JOB REPORT LIFTS DOW; GROWTH IN EMPLOYMENT POWERS MARKET TO FOUR-MONTH HIGH.Byline: Phil Serafino Bloomberg News U.S. stocks soared, sending the Dow Jones industrial average Dow Jones Industrial Average The best known U.S. index of stocks. A price-weighted average of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks, primarily industrials including stocks that trade on the New York Stock Exchange. to its biggest gain in four months, as a government report showing unexpectedly strong job growth boosted optimism for corporate profits. Stocks entered a rut in mid-April, partly on concern that Asia's slowing economies would cut into U.S. earnings and growth. Instead, ``The lower interest rates that were engendered by the fear of an Asia meltdown have accelerated the domestic economy,'' said William Gerlach, who runs the $420 million MAS Mid Cap Value Fund for Morgan Stanley  To comply with Wikipedia's , the introduction of this article needs a complete rewrite. Asset Management. The fund owns cement maker Southdown Inc., which benefits from growth in the U.S. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 167.15 to 9037.71, its biggest gain since Feb. 2. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 19.03 to 113.86. The Nasdaq Composite Index Nasdaq Composite Index An index that indicates price movements of securities in the over-the-counter market. It includes all domestic common stocks in the Nasdaq System (approximately 5,000 stocks) and is weighted according to the market value of each listed rose 12.97 to 1782.92. Advancing stocks led decliners by a 2-to-1 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. . Some 557 million shares changed hands, below the three-month average of 610 million. For the week, the Dow industrials rose 1.5 percent, the S&P 500 gained 2.1 percent and the Nasdaq Composite The Nasdaq Composite is a stock market index of all of the common stocks and similar securities (e.g. ADRs, tracking stocks, limited partnership interests) listed on the NASDAQ stock market, meaning that it has over 3,000 components. It is highly followed in the U.S. was little changed, rising 0.2 percent. The Labor Department The Department of Labor (DOL) administers federal labor laws for the Executive Branch of the federal government. Its mission is "to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working said the economy added 296,000 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate remained at 4.3 percent. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News forecast 223,000 jobs and a jobless rate of 4.4 percent. Inflation showed no sign of heating up. Average hourly earnings, a key gauge of labor costs, rose to $12.73 from a revised $12.69, in line with expectations. Manufacturing employment fell, which indicates that ``the back end of the economy is clearly slowing down,'' said Ned Riley, chief investment officer at BankBoston Corp. That means inflation isn't likely to be a problem down the road. Some investors expect inflation and interest rates to fall in coming months as Asia's slumping economies and weak currencies cut demand for U.S. goods and spur the countries to export more of their own products at competitive prices. Concern about the drag from Asia on U.S. corporate profits depressed stocks lately, pushing the Dow average at one point this week to its lowest level since March 31. The jobs report eased that concern, and helped justify Wall Street's optimistic earnings forecasts. Analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. expect the companies in the S&P 500 to report 5.4 percent growth in operating earnings Operating Earnings Profits after subtracting expenses such as marketing, cost of goods sold, administration and general operating costs from revenue. Notes: Tax and interest expenses are not subtracted - operating earnings are synonymous with EBIT (earnings before this quarter, and 10.1 percent growth for the year. ``The worry has been over corporate earnings over the past couple weeks and the fact that there's a strong jobs market means the economy is strong,'' said Bruce Bittles, a market strategist Noun 1. market strategist - someone skilled in planning marketing campaigns strategian, strategist - an expert in strategy (especially in warfare) at J.C. Bradford & Co. in Nashville, Tenn. CAPTION(S): 2 Charts CHART: (1) U.S. EMPLOYMENT (2) Change in payroll jobs Monthly increase in non-farm jobs, in thousands SOURCE: Department of Labor Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. |
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