The Dow and S&P were up Thursday, turning around a three-day decline.
Positive new information on the job market and manufacturing fueled the bounce.
After recovering from a 12-year low in March, the S&P 500 has slowed, as private investors and institutions reassess economic data. The turn offers a flicker of hope and optimism for recovery, but analysts remain cautious, saying significant improvement is still needed before projections change.
Financials supported the small rally.
Discover Financial Services rose 4 percent. Lincoln National gained 6.9 percent. And the S&P Financial Index gained 2.5 percent.
"The data supports the case of those looking for the bottom of the economy in this quarter," said Jim Awad, managing director at Zephyr Management in New York.
On the positive side, government data shows that the number of workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, but the number of people actually collecting benefits had its biggest decline since November 2001.
Trading volume remained light on the NYSE, with about 1 billion shares exchanging hands, while the Nasdaq also stayed below last year's daily average.
No comments:
Post a Comment