US stocks rose after a report showing the economy added jobs for the first time in seven months fueled confidence in an earnings rebound.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished higher for a fourth week, its longest winning streak since May.
"Employment was the missing piece of the puzzle," said Richard Sichel, who oversees US$600 million as chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co. He expects companies will start raising profit forecasts "in a few weeks."
He is buying Wells Fargo & Co and American Home Products Corp shares.
International Business Machines Corp, Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp accounted for more than half the Dow's gain after Merrill Lynch & Co advised investors to buy technology shares.
The NASDAQ Composite Index rose 48.04, or 2.6 percent, to 1,929.67. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 6.77, or 0.6 percent, to 1,164.31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 47.12, or 0.5 percent, to 10,572.49.
The Dow gained 2 percent for the week, extending its year-to-date advance to 5.5 percent. The S&P 500 rallied 2.9 percent, erasing the benchmark's loss for the year.
The NASDAQ rose 7 percent, paring its year-to-date decline to 1.1 percent. It was down 12 percent as recently as two weeks ago.
The US stopped losing jobs in February, the Labor Department reported. Payrolls rose by 66,000, after dropping 126,000 in January and 106,000 in December. Unemployment fell to 5.5 percent from 5.6 percent.
The data came a day after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress a recovery is "well under way."
Treasuries dropped for a seventh day, the longest slide in almost a decade for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, on concern inflation may quicken as demand recovers. The yield on the 10-year note rose 10 basis points to 5.32 percent. Bond prices fall as yields rise.
"It's tough to argue against" an economic rebound, said Joe Balestrino, whose US$290 million Federated Stock and Bond Fund this week shifted money to stocks from bonds for the first time in two years. "We are bottoming right now from a corporate earnings perspective and have already bottomed from an economic perspective."
About 1.4 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, 3.2 percent more than the three-month daily average.
Advancing and declining stocks were about even on the Big Board, while almost two rose for every one that fell on the NASDAQ Stock Market.
Sun Microsystems, whose server computers run corporate networks and Web sites, gained US$1.17 to US$10. The company reiterated forecasts that fiscal third-quarter revenue will rise "slightly" from last quarter's US$3.11 billion.
IBM, the biggest computer maker, gained US$1.38 to US$105.09.
Cisco Systems Inc., the largest maker of equipment to direct Internet traffic, gained US$0.80 to US$17.80. Intel, the biggest chipmaker, rose US$1.19 to US$34.17.
Microsoft led software companies higher. The biggest software maker rose US$1.23 to US$63.95, Oracle Corp advanced US$0.20 to US$14.20 and Veritas Software Corp rose US$1.26 to US$44.41.
Merrill strategist Steven Milunovich reversed a call he made two months ago that technology stocks were too expensive and should be avoided. Today, he said "increasing signs of a bottom" in technology businesses and reports showing improvement in the overall economy have changed investor sentiment.
Companies in the S&P 500 trade at an average of 23 times next year's earnings estimates, 50 percent above the historical average of 15. At its March 2000 peak, the index traded at 26 times profit forecasts for the next 12 months.
"We're always concerned with valuations, but if earnings pick up, then prices will seem more reasonable," Philadelphia Trust's Sichel said.
General Electric Co, which led indexes higher earlier in the day, fell US$0.35 to US$40.60. The largest company by market value said it had US$43 billion in assets in so-called special-purpose entities. SPE's were used by bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp to keep billions of dollars in liabilities from appearing on its balance sheet.
Qualcomm Inc rose US$2.36 to US$43.80. The Chinese government ordered mobile-phone makers to increase production of handsets to expand the use of a new wireless network based on technology developed by Qualcomm.
Schlumberger Ltd led a decline in oil-service companies as crude fell on expectations for easing tensions in the Persian Gulf. The world's biggest oilfield-services company lost US$2.21 to US$58.14.
Smith International Inc dropped US$2.25 to US$64.53.
Financial companies gained as investors anticipated the renewed economic growth would increase lending and curb defaults.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co climbed US$1.64 to US$56.86, JP Morgan Chase & Co rose US$0.69 to US$34.74 and American Express Co rallied US$0.96 to US$40.47.
Biogen Inc dropped US$4.75 to US$51.65. Serono SA won US approval for the multiple sclerosis drug Rebif, threatening sales of Biogen's Avonex. Serono's US shares jumped US$2.62 to US$22.21.
DAMAGE REPORT: Global central banks are assessing war-driven inflation risks as the law of unintended consequences careens around the world, spiking oil prices Central banks from Washington to London and from Jakarta to Taipei are about to make their first assessments of economic damage after more than two weeks of conflict between the US and Iran. Decisions this week encompassing every member of the G7 and eight of the world’s 10 most-traded currency jurisdictions are likely to confirm to investors that the specter of a new inflation shock is already worrying enough to prompt heightened caution. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to do exactly what everyone anticipated weeks ahead of its March 17-18 policy gathering: hold rates steady. The narrative surrounding that
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) share of the global foundry market rose to almost 70 percent last year amid booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI), market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Thursday. The contract chipmaker posted US$122.54 billion in revenue, up 36.1 percent from a year earlier, accounting for 69.9 percent of the global market, TrendForce said. Its share was up from 64.4 percent in 2024, it said. TSMC’s closest rival, Samsung Electronics, was a distant second, posting US$12.63 billion in sales, down 3.9 percent from a year earlier, for a 7.2 percent share of the global market. In the
At a massive shipyard in North Vancouver, Canadian workers grind metal beams for a powerful new icebreaker crucial to cementing the country’s presence in the increasingly contested arctic. Icebreakers are specialized, expensive vessels able to navigate in the frozen far north. And “this is the crown jewel,” said Eddie Schehr, vice president of production at the Seaspan shipyard. For Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who heads to Norway next Friday to observe arctic defense drills involving troops from 14 NATO states, Canada’s extreme north has emerged as a strategic priority. “Canada is and forever will be an Arctic nation,” he said ahead of
Chinese entrepreneur Frank Gao used to spend long hours running his social media accounts but now outsources the chore to artificial intelligence (AI) agent tool OpenClaw, which is taking China by storm despite official warnings over cybersecurity. OpenClaw, created in November by an Austrian coder, differs from bots such as ChatGPT because it can execute real-life tasks such as sending e-mails, organizing files or even booking flight tickets. “Since January, I’ve spent hours on the lobster every day,” Gao said in an interview, referring to OpenClaw’s red crustacean mascot. “We’re family.” After downloading OpenClaw, users connect it to artificial intelligence models of their
RSS