U.S. stocks posted their best day in three months on Thursday as Wall Street rallied behind a strong unemployment claims report along with a modest drop in energy prices.
At the preliminary close, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 191 points, or 1.6%, to 12,258. The gains were the best for the blue-chip indicator in 2011 and the largest since Dec. 1.
The S&P 500 added 22.5 points, or 1.7%, to 1331; and Nasdaq composite climbed 51 points, or 1.9%, to 2799.
Thursday’s rally was fairly broadbased and held steady the entire day. Twenty of the Dow’s 30 members advanced more than 1%, while the worst-performing member of the Dow was AT&T, falling a modest 0.1%.
Wall Street’s bulls rallied behind a considerably better-than-expected weekly jobless claims report, which showed the number of people who filed for benefits dropping to its lowest level since May 2008, along with a modest cooling in energy prices.
Oil fell 40 cents a barrel on news reports that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi mightagree to a peace negotiations mediated by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.
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9 Responses
Well with oil and food prices shooting through the roof, we will need some additional income to offset those increases.
Btw where are all the people who screamed “Blood Oil” as Bush. All I know is that when he left office oil was about $40 something a barrel. Makes you wonder is all I am saying.
Charlie,
They were even lower under Clinton. But cheap oil just encourages us to use more and give money to the rashaim in the Middle East and Venezuela. To have a domestic energy industry we need high prices.
Thats definitly true. When oil came down in 2008/2009, all funding and and the tremendous developments in alternative energy ceased since it was again cheaper to buy foreign oil. It’s always whatever’s cheaper. Thats how markets work. We need higher oil prices so people will switch to alternative domestic energy and cosequently those fields will be further developed, bringing their costs down. We’ll save money in the long run and the sooner its done the better. As oil is rising again we have again passed the point where alternatives are cheaper and its just a matter of time, if the prices are sustained, that we’ll again see all those solar/wind power companies sprouting and growing.
Charlie hall it is your radical leftist part who don’t let us drill here. You liberal close your mouth. I say drill baby drill!
CH,
That might be true, but it doesnt answer the question where are all those people now?
Btw there is probably more oil in the mid west than there is in the mid east but your liberal buddies won’t let us drill there. Where are all the incentives for alternative fuel sources? Obama should be pushing this as part of his agenda. Oh wait……………hmmmm???
Well, yeah! Bush and Obama gave them capital to dig their way out. They should have given the citizens capital (their own tax dollars anyway).
Bush was no good. Obama is no good. And this nostalgia for Reagan shows that still nothing trickles down.
People out there are making HUGE fortunes swapping wealth. Not from careers where they do something with their lives.
Remember what America was like before it became a plutocracy? Political party does not make a difference.
#2 I am sure the people being foreclosed due to higher gas prices agree with you. If you think I am being sensational look at pg 3 of today’s WSJ.
amit,”we need higher prices”, are you out of your mind. That is such a twisted logic typical liberal thinking. You people are crazy. We need gas prices low genius we have no money to pay for this gouging. Drill baby drill.
The “drill, baby, drill” crowd do not say how it is possible to get oil from the ground at a cost of $80/barrel when the price of oil is $50/barrel. The answer of course, is massive government subsidies.
There is NO easy-to-extract oil left in the US; they are deliberately trying to mislead you. Watch out for your wallet!