The stock market is finishing the day with a modest advance, logging its fourth straight week of gains.
The stock market is finishing the day with a modest advance, logging its fourth straight week of gains.
The last time the Dow Jones industrial average rose for four consecutive weeks was between September and October of 2007 — when the index reached its all-time high.
Investors have grown more optimistic about the economy, and on Friday looked past a jump in the unemployment rate to 8.5 percent.
The Dow is closing above 8,000 for the first time since February. It is up 40 points, or 0.5 percent, at 8,017.59.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 8.1, or 1 percent, at 842.49. The Nasdaq composite index is up 19.24, or 1.2 percent, at 1,621.87.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks fluctuated Friday but are poised for their fourth straight week of gains as investors looked past a jump in the unemployment rate to 8.5 percent and braced for corporate earnings.
Stocks have rallied 20 percent since early March from their lowest levels in nearly 12 years. The Dow Jones industrials edged above the 8,000 mark in afternoon trading, having breached that level on Thursday for the first time since February.
The Labor Department's March unemployment report wasn't as bad as the worst expectations in the market. The numbers were still grim but didn't derail an emerging sense of optimism over the past four months that the economy may be beginning to right itself.
Tom Phillips, president of TS Phillips Investments in Oklahoma City, said the improved tone in the market is helping traders react more moderately to bad news than they might have a month ago.
"If the expectation was for truly horrendous numbers and they're only ugly, that's a good thing," he said.
Employers slashed a net total of 663,000 jobs last month, only slightly worse than the 654,000 economists expected. The employment rate jumped to its highest level since late 1983, when the economy was starting to emerge from a deep recession.
The economy has shed a total of 5.1 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. Nearly two-thirds of the losses have come in the last five months.
Major market indicators moved less than 1 percent in late afternoon trading. The Dow Jones industrials fell 17.28 to 7,960.80 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.05 to 835.43. The Nasdaq composite index rose 5.51 to 1,608.14, helped by BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd., whose shares surged on better-than-expected profits.
The monthly employment report is often regarded as the most important piece of economic news affecting the market. There is even greater focus on jobs data now that the U.S. recession has stretched into the longest downturn since World War II.
Even as the numbers weren't as bad as some analysts had feared investors will need to see further signs that the recession isn't getting worse to keep the rally going. Analysts said the labor market is unlikely to provide much encouragement anytime soon.
"I would say that there is no sign of a bottom in these numbers," said Charles K. Ortel, managing director of Newport Value Partners L.L.C., a New York investment research firm.
The market could still recover even if unemployment remains high. Wall Street will just want signs that prospects for the labor market aren't getting far worse. In downturns during the past 60 years, the S&P 500 index has hit bottom an average of four months before a recession ended and about nine months before unemployment hit its peak.
Traders have been emboldened in recent weeks by better-than-expected readings on key economic factors like housing, banking and manufacturing. The Dow ended Thursday up 20.4 percent since March 9 — its best four-week run since 1933.
Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading LLC, said investors are being too quick to overlook the holes in the economy like employment. He noted that January's job losses were revised much higher, to 741,000 from 655,000.
"We've run way too high here, way too fast," he said. "No matter how you want to spin it there are a ton of people unemployed and the rate is still going higher."
Another looming threat to the market's four-week buying spree is the start of the first quarter earnings season, which gets under way Tuesday with a report from Alcoa Inc., a giant maker of aluminum and a Dow component whose results are closely watched by the market.
Expectations are already low for first-quarter corporate earnings but any hints from companies that things could get worse in 2009 could easily kill the rally.
Stocks found no help Friday from a report showing that the services sector of the economy shrank for the sixth consecutive month in March and at a faster pace than expected.
The Institute for Supply Management's index fell to 40.8 last month from 41.6 in February. Any number below 50 indicates contraction in the services industry.
Technology stocks found support after Research in Motion posted a 26 percent increase in its fourth-quarter earnings. The stock jumped $10.20, or 21 percent, to $59.29.
About three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 958 million shares.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.08, or 0.2 percent, to 451.27.
Bond prices fell, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note up to 2.90 percent from 2.76 percent late Thursday. The yield on the three-month T-bill rose to 0.21 percent from 0.20 percent.
European and Asian markets were mixed following a powerful global stock rally the day before after world leaders pledged $1 trillion for financial rescue measures and promised stronger regulation of financial institutions.
Japan's Nikkei stock average closed 0.3 percent higher, while Britain's FTSE 100 fell 2.3 percent. Germany's DAX rose less than 0.1 percent and France's CAC-40 fell 1.1 percent.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
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Date: 4/3/2009 4:11 PM
Slug: AP-Wall-Street
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