Stocks on Wall Street rose for the second day despite mixed economic signals and fears over Friday's key employment figures. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its highest for the day – up 50.63 points, or 0.5%, to 10,320. The broader index
Stocks on Wall Street rose for the second day despite mixed economic signals and fears over Friday's key employment figures.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its highest for the day – up 50.63 points, or 0.5%, to 10,320. The broader indexes did even better, with the Nasdaq Composite up 1.0% to 2200 and the S&P 500 index also up 1.0% to 1090.
Shares of retailers climbed as sales for the back-to-school buying month of August largely came in better than expected.
Investors were also heartened by an unexpected increase in pending sales of used homes, a surprising reversal after the index fell two months in a row following the April 30 expiration of a tax credit for buyers.
However, US factory orders rose less than expected in July and the level of workers filing new jobless claims last week suggested lingering troubles in the job market.
The government's monthly employment data are keenly awaited. It now stands at 9.5% and that figure is expected to creep up to 9.6% as employers drop another 110,000 people off the payrolls.
Other markets: Europe, Asia up
European stocks ended mostly higher. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell a fraction of a point to 258.18.
The UK's FTSE 100 closed up 0.1% at 5371.04, France's CAC-40 closed 0.2% higher at 3631.43 and Germany's DAX finished flat at 6083.85.
Most Asian stock markets rose, with China's benchmark index climbing 1.3% on strength in auto makers after better-than-expected car sales in August. China's Shanghai Composite advanced 32.89 points to 2655.78.
Tokyo's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.5% to 9062.84, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.2% to 20,868.92, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.8% to 4532.66 and Korea's Kospi rose 0.6% to 1775.73.
Commodities: Oil, gold up
Crude-oil futures turned higher after the day's round of macroeconomic data was mixed and as a rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico brought more negative attention to offshore drilling.
Crude oil for October delivery added 56USc to $US74.44 a barrel in New York.
Gold futures are half a percentage point away from a record high, resuming their increase as investors continued to use the metal as a means of safeguarding wealth.
Gold for December delivery added $US3.60, or 0.3%, to $US1252 an ounce in New York. That's 0.5% away from the June 18 record high of $US1258.30 an ounce and fresh a two-month high.
Currencies: Dollar down, yen up
The dollar was down modestly against the euro and yen.
The euro was at $US1.2816 from $US1.2803 late on Wednesday. The dollar was at ¥84.21 from ¥84.40, while the euro was at ¥107.96 from ¥108.06. The UK pound was at $US1.5388 from $US1.5453 and the dollar was at 1.0128 Swiss francs from 1.0150 francs.
