Jobs Report and a Merger Lift Stocks
TOOLBOX   Resize
 Save/Share +
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
|
U.S. stocks rose on a better-than-forecast jobs report and a $23 billion takeover of Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.
Technology, consumer and telecommunications stocks led the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index to a four-month high, while the stocks of raw material and energy producers declined as the dollar climbed. Wrigley had the steepest gain in more than two decades after Mars, with financing from billionaire Warren E. Buffett, agreed to buy the world's biggest maker of chewing gum.
"The market is turning around here," said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in Reno, Nev. "This is a sustainable move that will take us to the 2007 highs before the end of the year."
The S&P 500 rose 1.2 percent last week, to 1413.90. The index has gained 6.1 percent in the past three weeks, paring its 2008 decline to 3.7 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.3 percent, to 13,058.20. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 2.2 percent, to 2476.99.
The unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent from 5.1 percent in April, the Labor Department said Friday, signaling that the slowdown may be milder than the 2001 recession.
Wrigley jumped 22 percent, to $75.99. The takeover of the 117-year-old Wrigley by Mars creates a competitor to chocolate maker Hershey and Cadbury Schweppes, the world's largest candy manufacturer.
Exxon Mobil fell 3.1 percent, to $89.61, its steepest drop since March. Earnings at the world's biggest oil company fell short of analyst estimates as production dropped and profit margins from refining narrowed.
Raw-material producers in the S&P 500 dropped 3 percent for the week, while energy shares lost 1.8 percent, as the dollar advanced 1.3 percent against the euro. The price of oil declined $2.20, to $116.32, last week.
Yields on Treasury securities were little changed as traders anticipated the Federal Reserve may pause in its series of interest-rate cuts after last week's reduction of the overnight rate target. The benchmark 10-year note's yield declined to 3.86 percent from 3.87 percent.
The Treasury will auction $22 billion of three-month bills and $21 billion of six-month bills tomorrow. They yielded 1.54 percent and 1.71 percent, respectively, in when-issued trading. The Treasury will sell one-month bills Tuesday.
-- Bloomberg News
