Both the S&P 500 and the Dow are among the 10 best performers this year among 91 national indexes tracked by Bloomberg. The Dow has rallied 6.1 percent in 2011. That’s below the average gains of 12 percent in years before presidential elections since its creation in 1896, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Dow Jones.
Stocks gained today as companies cranked out more goods in December and pending sales of existing homes jumped in November for a second month, pointing to a pickup in U.S. economic growth as 2011 comes to a close. The number of Americans filing claims for jobless benefits dropped to 375,000 on average (INJCJC4) over the past four weeks, the fewest since June 2008, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington.
Investors also watched developments in Europe’s attempt to tame its crisis. Italy auctioned 7.02 billion euros ($9 billion) of bonds, falling short of the target, as borrowing costs declined in its final debt sale of the year.
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