Latest News:  

English>>Business

Stocks creep up; Dow rises for seventh day running

(Shanghai Daily)

08:49, March 12, 2013

THE US stock market crept higher yesterday, pushing the Dow Jones industrial average to its seventh straight day of gains.

Boeing was the Dow's top stock, surging 2 percent. A Boeing executive reportedly said he's confident the aircraft maker has figured out a fix for the battery problems that have grounded the 787 Dreamliner.

The last time the Dow rose for seven consecutive days was March 2012. The latest streak began on March 1. Last Tuesday, the blue-chip index blew past its all-time high, then kept climbing to end the week up 2 percent.

Yesterday the Dow rose 50.22 points to end the day at 14,447.29, an increase of 0.3 percent.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index edged up 5.04 points, also 0.3 percent, to close at 1,556.22. The index, the most popular market measure for investment funds, is nine points shy of its all-time closing high reached in October 2007.

The Nasdaq composite added 8.51 points to 3,252.87.

The S&P 500 gains were broad, though slight. Nine of the 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 rose, led by financial companies. That's a sign many investors believe the market and economy are on solid footing, said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial. When the economy picks up, financial firms and companies in other cyclical industries tend to benefit more than others.

For the year, the Dow is up 10 percent and the S&P 500 up 9 percent.

The stock market's fast start has prompted some analysts to worry that the rally could quickly fizzle. Although recent economic reports have painted a better picture, the US economy is still growing slowly. It expanded at an annual rate of 0.1 percent in the final three months of 2012. And Europe remains in a recession.

There were no major economic reports to drive trading yesterday. Later in the week, the government will release figures for the federal budget in February, as well as reports on consumer prices and industrial production

On Friday, the Labor Department said that US employers added 236,000 workers to their payrolls in February, pushing the unemployment rate down to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008.

In the Treasury market, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note edged up to 2.05 percent from 2.04 percent late Friday.

The 10-year Treasury yield began the year around 1.70 percent and has climbed steadily higher since then as worries about a recession have eased. Traders have shifted money out of the Treasury market, lifting yields up.

Also yesterday, news that billionaire investor Carl Icahn will get access to Dell's private financial records lifted shares in the computer maker. Icahn is fighting Michael Dell's plan to take the struggling company private for US$24 billion, claiming the purchase price is too low. Dell's stock rose 21 cents to US$14.37.

We recommend:

Japanese brands search for rebound

Inflation rebounds to 10-month high in Feb.

Halt urged to rising luxury goods prices

China well on way to being largest oil importer

Energy trade surplus for US

China seeks economic transformation

Email|Print|Comments(Editor:MaXi、Liang Jun)

Leave your comment0 comments

  1. Name

  

Selections for you


  1. Warships in 'Peace-13' joint military exercise

  2. Surveillance ships, helicopter patroling


  3. Unforgettable moments you cannot miss in March

  4. Flamboyant villagers honor sea goddess

  5. China's weekly story (2013.2.28-3.8)

  6. Applicants in flight attendants recruitment

  7. San Mao: The Echo Effect

  8. Sarah Brightman aims for the universe

  9. Japanese brands search for rebound

  10. Natural gas sparks emission hopes

Most Popular

Opinions

  1. Active yet prudent urbanization needed for China
  2. China's dating TV show inspires copycat in Chicago
  3. Int'l influence of Chinese films improving
  4. Peking Opera education should start early
  5. Fake 3D triggers resentment
  6. Technology transforms art sharing
  7. Books for youngsters' the fastest-growing genre
  8. Life of the never-touch-a-pan generation
  9. Chinese films ought to tell Chinese stories
  10. Lei Feng spirit never out of date

What’s happening in China

Flight attendants recruitment attracts beautiful young applicants

  1. Floating pigs may be killed by epidemic
  2. Man wanted for keeping woman as sex slave
  3. 5,000 women give birth in Beijing by IVF
  4. Pig virus detected in Shanghai river water
  5. 5.2-magnitude quake hits Xinjiang