US stocks log gains for fourth week in a row
Saturday, April 4, 2009
United States stock indexes posted gains on Friday, marking a four-week long positive streak. This comes despite a report released by the US Labor Department on the same day, which said that the US economy shed 663,000 jobs in March, with the unemployment rate reaching 8.5%, the highest since 1983.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a modest gain of half a percent or 39 points, ending the day at 8,017. The index has not closed above 8,000 since February. The last time the Dow had risen for four weeks in a row was between September and October of 2007, when the stock index reached its all-time high of over 14,000. The streak is the index's best since 1993.
The broader S&P 500 gained eight points, or one percent, by the closing bell. The Nasdaq Composite had the largest gains of the three indexes, up 1.2% to 1,622. Both the S&P and the Dow gained over 3% over the course of the week, while the Nasdaq was up almost 5%.
In other markets, both the German DAX and the Japanese Nikkei 225 indexes remained even, whilst the British FTSE 100 slipped 2.3%.
Related news
- "US unemployment rate reaches 8.5%" — Wikinews, April 3, 2009
Sources
- Tim Paradis and Malden Read. "Street looks past job data, logs 4th week of gains" — Associated Press, April 3, 3009
- Rob Curran. "UPDATE: Stocks Up; DJIA Has Best 4-Week Streak Since 1933" — The Wall Street Journal, April 3, 2009
- Renae Merle. "Markets Rise for Fourth Day in a Row" — The Washington Post, April 3, 2009
