U.S. Stock Market Fails to Capitalize on Investor Mood Upswing

Report published by the Automatic Data Processing Firm regarding betterment in the job market situation proved unable to improve the sad condition of the U.S. stock market. This is in spite of the fact that investors were more confident while investing, following the publication of the report. At the end of business session last day, the price of the chief stocks slumped by more than 1 percent over their rising prices. This may be the reason why the stock market failed to make any considerable gains today. Investors, who had seen the market close yesterday with a loss running into three digit figures, were reluctant to take any major risks by investing heavily at this point. The tension over the price of oil also proved to be a major factor in the continuing slump of the fortunes of the stock market. The morning saw the market register some gains. But as the day progressed, this gain was changed into loss and the rest of the working hour was spent in an attempt to slightly rescue the situation. The Dow was at a gain of a measly 40 points an hour before the close of the day’s business. This summed up a day perfectly which saw the price of the American dollar slide down by 0.3 percent against euro, pound and yen. Prices of goods were fluctuating also with gold and soya bean seeing increase in their values.


The economic data which was released at the end of the day’s business underlined the depressing condition of the market with only a handful of stocks registering any profit. At the closure of the NYSE today, DOW (Dow Jones Industrial Average) calculated a gain of 8.63 points with an EOD of 12,066.65. NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) also managed to show a gain of 22.82. Their EOD was 8,338.67 points. The stocks of National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) gained 10.42 points to have an EOD of 2,747.83 S&P 500 (SPX) had a gain of 2.10 points, showing their EOD at 1,308.43. However, BEL 20 (BEL20) stock price fell by 23.30 points. Their EOD was 2,689.37. CAC 40 (CAC40) also suffered losses. Their stock price dropped by 32.83 points. The EOD was 4,034.32. FTSE100 (UKX100) also failed to make any gains; their price falling by 20.87 points and ended with an EOD of 5,914.89. NIKKEI 225 (NIK/O) shed 261.65 points to finish their day’s transactions with an EOD of 10,492.38 points.

On the other hand, the labor market conditions continued to change for the better slowly but at a steady pace. Number of jobs rose by 217000 against an expected rise of 170000. Majority of the districts were able to show significant growth in their quantity of product manufactured despite the cost of production to be borne by the manufacturers having increased considerably. Wages of the workers did not pose any major problems and production was carried out smoothly. The net amount of retail sales has also increased in most parts of the country.

The American Stock Exchange (AMEX) estimated advanced stock prices to be 253 while the declined stocks were calculated to be 230. 34 stock prices remain unchanged. Price of 27 stocks touched a new high while 5 stocks saw their value fall to a new low.