Dow industrials close above 11,000
By DPA, IANSFriday, October 8, 2010
NEW YORK - The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 11,000 points for the first time in months amid hopes that the Federal Reserve will buy debt as economic stimulus amid stubbornly high unemployment.
The blue-chip Dow industrials gained 57.9 points, or 0.53 percent, to 11,006.48. The broader Standard and Poor’s 500 Index climbed 7.09 points, or 0.61 percent, to 1,165.15. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index picked up 18.24 points, or 0.77 percent, to 2,401.91.
The gain came after the US Labor Department reported 95,000 jobs were lost in September, and that the unemployment rate remained 9.6 percent. The jobless rate prompted speculation that the Fed central bankers will intervene to further stimulate the economy, Bloomberg news reported.
“It indicates that we’re still in this soft patch, and in order to get out of that and minimise the risk of a double dip, we need more fiscal and monetary stimulus,” Barton Biggs of Traxis Partners LP told Bloomberg news.
On currency markets, the US dollar declined against the euro to 71.74 euro cents from 71.83 a day earlier, and fell against the yen to 81.92 from 82.42 yen Thursday.
