Stocks on Wall Street dragged as the week ended, weighed down by worse than expected key jobs data, but then staged a late rally to end the week up 1.8%.European and Canadian sharemarkets also finished the week higher.Oil prices were up 4.3% for the week
Stocks on Wall Street dragged as the week ended, weighed down by worse than expected key jobs data, but then staged a late rally to end the week up 1.8%.
European and Canadian sharemarkets also finished the week higher.
Oil prices were up 4.3% for the week after hitting a 15-month high on Wednesday, while gold rose 3.9% for the week.
More jobs were lost in December than the consensus forecast, but the figure was well above the most pessimistic estimates. The November data were revised to show a net gain.
US non-farm payrolls fell 85,000 last month but rose 4000 in November, the first gain in almost two years.
The unemployment rate remained at 10%, slightly better than the 10.1% rate that was expected. This helped assuage fears that an interest-rate rise could come sooner than anticipated.
After being down for most of the session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 11.26 points, or 0.1%, at 10,618.19.
Earlier, the index was pulled down by Coca-Cola, which fell 2.3% after JP Morgan Chase downgraded its investment rating to "neutral" from "overweight," noting the next six months will be "difficult" for stocks in the beverages and household-products sectors.
The warning weighed on the entire consumer-staples sector. Colgate-Palmolive and Alberto-Culver, which aren't Dow components, also were downgraded. Colgate fell 2.4% while Alberto-Culver shed 2.8%.
The S&P 500 finished the week 2.7% higher at 1144.98, up 0.3% on the days with declines in its financial and telecommunications sectors offset by a climb in industrial and tech stocks.
The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index was positive during the entire session and closed at 2317.17, up 2.1% for the week and 0.7% for the day.
It was boosted by a 1.2% gain in Google after it applied for approval to buy and sell power in bulk amounts, potentially putting it in the electricity-trading market.
Canadian stocks rose, poised for a weekly gain, as metals producers advanced on a weaker US dollar after a drop in North American jobs.
Canada unexpectedly lost jobs in December, led by transportation and public administration, keeping the jobless rate close to the highest in more than a decade.
Employment fell by 2600 last month, after a November gain of 79,100. However, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.5%, close to an 11-and-a-half-year high of 8.7% set in August.
Teck Resources increased 2%, First Quantum Minerals added 2.8% and Iamgold jumped 7.9%.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 39.98 points, or 0.3%, to 11,927.49, gaining 1.5% for the week, adding to a 31% jump in 2009, its biggest annual advance since 1979.
Europe stocks shrugged off disappointing jobs data from both sides of the Atlantic to end the week on a positive note, helped by a rally in bank shares.
Eurostat reported that unemployment reached an 11-year high for the euro zone during November.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 rose 0.4% to 259.17, led by a financial sector up 1.3%. It rose more than 2% this week.
Deutsche Bank rose 3.6% and Barclays rose 1.6% as UBS upgraded both to "buy," saying it preferred the investment banks over Spanish retail banks.
Aberdeen Asset Management fell 3.3% after reaching a deal to buy the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Investment Strategies funds of funds division for £84.7 million. Aberdeen is selling stock worth the same amount to fund the deal, which adds £3.5 billion in assets under management.
RBS fell 2% as it said the move was part of a broader plan to focus on core assets.
The UK FTSE 100 rose 0.1% to 5534.24, the German DAX gained 0.3% to 6037.61 and the French CAC 40 added 0.5% to 4045.14.
Commodities: Oil, gold up
Crude futures turned positive as the economic outlook survived the disappointing US jobs report.
Light, sweet crude for February delivery were up 9USc, or 0.6%, higher at $US82.75 a barrel at the end of floor trading in New York.
Futures rose 4.3% for the week after touching $US83.52 on Wednesday, the highest level since October 14, 2008.
Oil prices had risen in 10 consecutive sessions before falling slightly on Thursday, largely on hopes 2010 would bring steady improvement in demand.
Gold futures for February delivery rose $US5.20, or 0.5%, higher at $US1138.90 an ounce in New York.
The US jobs data enabled February gold to pop from an early low of $US1119.50 an ounce to a high of $US1140 an ounce as the euro soared to $US1.4417 from $US1.4280 just ahead of the report.
Still, gold was up 3.9% this week after five weeks of declines, the longest losing streak since August 2008.
Currencies: Dollar down; yen, euro up
The US dollar fell from a four-month high against the yen and all of its most-traded counterparts except for the Taiwanese dollar.
The greenback recorded its biggest weekly drop against the euro since November on the prospects for the world’s largest economy.
The dollar slid as much as 0.9% to $US1.4439 per euro in the biggest intraday decline since November 25, before trading at $US1.4409 at the New York close, compared with $US1.4308 on Thursday.
The dollar dropped 0.8% to ¥92.66, from 93.37, after earlier touching ¥93.77, the highest level since August 28. The euro fell 0.1% to ¥133.46.
Canada’s currency appreciated 0.4% to $C1.0306 per US dollar, compared with $C1.0347 on Thursday.
It has traded near the strongest level in more than two months against its US counterpart. One Canadian dollar buys 96.57USc.
