February 3, 2012 in Business

Market closes at highest level since 2008

Matthew Craft Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow Jones industrial average has closed at its highest level since before the 2008 financial crisis.

The Dow jumped 157 points Friday to close at 12,862. That’s the highest since May 2008. The Nasdaq composite index closed at its highest level since December 2000.

Before the market opened, the Labor Department said companies hired 243,000 employees in January. That’s the strongest job growth in nine months. The increase in hiring pushed the unemployment rate down to 8.3 percent.

The S&P 500 index added 19 points, or 1.5 percent, to 1,345.

More than four stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was 4.6 billion shares.

32 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

greenlibertarian on February 03 at 1:44 p.m.
This is BAD NEWS for Willard and Getrich.
The private sector remained the engine of new job gains. While federal agencies and local governments continued to lay off workers, private-sector employers added 257,000 net new jobs in January. The industries with the biggest gains were manufacturing, professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality. (continues)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/business/economy/us-economy-added-243000-jobs-in-january-unemployment-rate-is-8-3.html?_r=1&ref=business
Continuing the trend of Government employment DOWN and private sector employment UP, under President Barry Soherto HUSSEIN Obama.
Eat THAT Obama bashers.
oneanddone on February 03 at 2:13 p.m.
Just like the weather in Chicago. Wait a few days - it’ll change.
Scoutster on February 03 at 2:15 p.m.
Good news, but Obama is not responsible.
He wasn’t responsible for poor unemployment numbers previously, either.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on February 03 at 2:27 p.m.
Good news, but of course the republicans will try and spin this into bad news though.
Just imagine what we could get done if we had political parties that worked together in Washington DC.
dataxman on February 03 at 2:37 p.m.
1,200,000 Americans left the work pool last month. That alone is a sobering statistic.
Of course this is all just smoke and mirrors. Those that run the BLS want to keep their job so they add a little here, subtract a little there and you end up with this..
look at Table B-1, Total Nonfarm Employment in today’s BLS press release. Start with the non seasonally adjusted table that shows that in November 2011, there were 133.172 million actual jobs. Actual jobs dropped by 220,000 jobs in December and actual jobs dropped an additional 2.7 million in January. Only as a result of unknown seasonal adjustments, could the BLS report 243,000 new hires in January.
In short - the economy lost 3.3 million jobs but we are told 220 thousand jobs were added.
larry_b on February 03 at 2:50 p.m.
1anddone, perfect! some people on here are so far left that they cant see RIGHT!
johnclarke on February 03 at 3:00 p.m.
I wonder what everyone is going to do when the unemployment numbers keep falling. I guess you can blame Obama for killing too many terrorists or ending too many wars…stuff like that.
dataxman on February 03 at 3:12 p.m.
jc - if the labor participation rate starts to increase than I will believe the economy is actually improving
misjustice on February 03 at 3:14 p.m.
More bad news!
For the regressives…poor dears.
johnclarke on February 03 at 3:23 p.m.
dataxman on February 03 at 3:12 p.m.
jc - if the labor participation rate starts to increase than I will believe the economy is actually improving
The economy has been improving for years. Unemployment is always the slowest and last number to drop, but all you smart “righties” know that. The subject of this story, coupled with the record corporate profits would convince most non Obama haters. Now that corporations are no longer trying to “see what Obama is going to do” perhaps they can start hiring. BTW, that is the most hilarious excuse ever. Like what are they waiting for? A magic trick?
That’s ok, just keep hating.
Dazzeetrader11 on February 03 at 3:32 p.m.
It’s not bad news…but it’s good news for the middle calss or poor either. This market has been going up since 2009. Obama’s got nothing to do with th it. He has not drawn one piece of legislation that corrected anything on Wall St…nor has he done anything baout the bank robbers wither.
If you haven’t noticed, all this rosey new has nothing to do with YOU. It’s fro people who have big money invested. Obama’s , once again, let this rosey news pass you bye. He has done nothing to cure the derivatives, huge salaries you only can drool over and nothing about the system.
Good luck voting for him.
johnclarke on February 03 at 3:41 p.m.
Thanks Daisy ! Good luck at happy hour !
drywitt99 on February 03 at 3:55 p.m.
My gawd!!!!!
If the Mittster was POTUS when numbers like these come out the Republi-baggers would be clearing space on Mt. Rushmore!!!
crazyivan44 on February 03 at 5:59 p.m.
These numbers are misleading no matter who is president. As stated above there was a HUGE spike in people leaving the job pool. 243k new jobs is GREAT! But when looking at unemployment rate beware that 243k jobs didn’t make the unemployment rate drop substantially, it was mostly caused by a monumental decrease in available workers and can be misleading.
JBlim on February 03 at 6:09 p.m.
Dataxman says “1,200,000 Americans left the work pool last month. That alone is a sobering statistic.”
Nice avatar, speaking of idiots:
… No Rick Santelli and Zero Hedge [and Dataxman], One Million People Did Not Drop Out of the Labor Force Last Month:
In accordance with usual practice, BLS will not revise the official household survey estimates for December 2011 and earlier months. To show the impact of the population adjustment, however, differences in selected December 2011 labor force series based on the old and new population estimates are shown in table B.
The adjustment increased the estimated size of the civilian noninstitutional population in December by 1,510,000, the civilian labor force by 258,000, employment by 216,000, unemployment by 42,000, and persons not in the labor force by 1,252,000. Although the total unemployment rate was unaffected, the labor force participation rate and the employment-population ratio were each reduced by 0.3 percentage point. This was because the population increase was primarily among persons 55 and older and, to a lesser degree, persons 16 to 24 years of age. Both these age groups have lower levels of labor force participation than the general population… .”
http://bonddad.blogspot.com/2012/02/no-rick-santelli-and-zero-hedge-one.html
JBlim on February 03 at 6:18 p.m.
If this keeps up, what will the Republicans run on? They can always pray that the economy fails (be honest, you were disappointed at the good economic numbers, weren’t you, Republicans.) I’m sure you’ll cook something something else up. That’s what Republicans are good at. Too bad they’re not any good at governing . . .
peacemonger on February 03 at 6:36 p.m.
Great news!!! The stock market is doing well, corporate taxes (12.1%) are at their lowest level in 40 years, marginal tax rates at record lows and now (due to 23 conecutive months of private sector job growth) unemployment is going down . So what do the Republicant’s have say about it now? Well, Mitt Robme says Obama made the economy worse. Really?
I’m really getting tired of the Republican/Tea Party negativity. They are looking like a bunch of pathetic clowns with nothing to offer.
misjustice on February 03 at 6:50 p.m.
“They are looking like a bunch of pathetic clowns with nothing to offer.”
Well if the clown shoes fit, wear ‘em!
; )
dataxman on February 03 at 6:59 p.m.
peace - we will just take a page out of Obama’s campaign speech…
The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents – #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child. That’s irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic ~Barak Obama July 2008
The national debt on Obama’s inauguration day was $6.3073 trillion. It will be over $16 trillion when his term ends in January 2013. He will have added almost $10 trillion dollars in 4 years. So he is either a hypocrite or unpatriotic (irresponsible is a given)
misjustice on February 03 at 7:23 p.m.
I know…it was VERY irresponsible of President Barack Hussien Obama to actually add Cheney’s two wars and the unfunded Medicare Part D to the budget; instead of keepin’ those items “off-line” like Cheney did.
; )
JBlim on February 03 at 7:40 p.m.
dataxman “So he is either a hypocrite or unpatriotic (irresponsible is a given)”
The debt is from the great recession (created by Bush economic policies) and the irresponsible “temporary” tax cuts implemented by Bush and retained by the filibustering Republicans in the Senate. And who could forget the stupid waste of taxpayer money by Bush when he started the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Did you think we forgot all that? There has been no explosion of government programs under Obama, government payrolls are down. Too bad the Republicans are working so hard to destroy the economy further instead of cleaning up the disaster they created. You are just partisan shill.
DickAdams on February 03 at 7:44 p.m.
Is everybody who posted comments on this story, know that effective March 1, 2012, medicare participants will be hit with an increase cost in their Social Security checks (Obamacare)? No increase in taxes says, Senator Reid. Yeah, and I`m going to sell this dude (dud) a federal bridge from one of the freeways in Nevada.
james_l on February 03 at 7:47 p.m.
“The national debt on Obama’s inauguration day was $6.3073 trillion.”
This is, of course, a lie.
The figures dataxman quotes in his 6:59 p.m. post are the “Debt Held by the Public” for Obama’s inauguration day ($6.3 trillion) doesn’t include “Intragovernmental Holdings” (approx $4.3 trillion). Of course he includes the “Intragovernmental Holdings” estimate of $4.8 trillion in the figure for the end of Obama’s first term, to arrive at the $16 trillion.
A significant portion of the debt increase is due to Obama putting several items on the balance sheet that the Bush administration chose not to, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Medicare drug benefit.

This increase in the debt is bad enough without dataxman lying about it.
misjustice on February 03 at 7:51 p.m.
Is this what you are asking about, Dick?
“(MoneyWatch) The U.S Department of Health and Human Services announced that premiums for Medicare Part B coverage for physician and outpatient services will increase less than projected next year, and that the deductible will actually decrease. Premiums will go up $3.50, to $99.90 per month for 2012. The Medicare Trustees report had previously projected an increase of $10.20, to $106.60 for 2012.”
“Premiums have not increased for retirees since 2009, thanks to a “hold-harmless” provision — since there were no cost of living increases in the Social Security income benefit for 2010 and 2011, Medicare premiums could not rise without effectively reducing seniors’ Social Security income. Typically Medicare Part B premiums are deducted from Social Security income checks.”
continues…
“The good news didn’t stop there — the Medicare Part B deductible actually decreased by $22, from $162 last year to $140 for 2012. The deductible for Part A Hospital coverage increased from $1,132 in 2011 to $1,156 in 2012, a lower-than-expected increase, below increases in prior years and below the rate of inflation. This comes on top of news this summer that premiums for Medicare’s Part D, the prescription drug program, would decline ever-so slightly this year too.”
“The HHS announcement credited the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Health Care Reform) for the good news, citing crackdowns on Medicare fraud and improvements in the way people receive care.”
continues…
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505146_162-39945614/medicare-premiums-and-deductibles-lower-than-expected-for-2012/
Premiums up, deductibles down?
crazyivan44 on February 03 at 8:01 p.m.
My concern with the premiums being down is are they down because of true cost savings, or is the money being paid from another bucket to subsidize the premiums being low. I don’t know the answer, I haven’t researched it, that question just came to me while reading the article.
johnclarke on February 03 at 9:46 p.m.
No need to research it ivan ! Just say “I hate Obama” and save us all time.
greenlibertarian on February 03 at 10:04 p.m.
Bleat! Taxed! Enough! Already!
Bleat Bleat! SOCIALISM!
Bleat!
DickAdams on February 03 at 10:25 p.m.
MisJ:
I don`t receive Social Security, but I`m forced to belong to Medicare. My supplemental medigap insurance, is going up $30.00 per month for both my wife and I. When I received the letter informing me of the increase it explained why and stated it was because of the increase in federal medicare costs. The letter showed what the increase in cost to medicare will be spent for.
Dazzeetrader11 on February 03 at 10:35 p.m.
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000071275
Obama’s cures the economy!!! Don’t believe it.
Dazzeetrader11 on February 03 at 10:39 p.m.
For all you lefites, you the “oObowow saves us” types…best have a look.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/record-12-million-people-fall-out-labor-force-one-month-labor-force-participation-rate-tumbles-
misjustice on February 03 at 11:25 p.m.
@ Dick, of course I don’t know your particular circumstances I just looked for an article that, perhaps, explained the increase in the premiums. Best to you and your dear wife. You know I luv ya! No matter what!
; )
Isn’t supplement insurance private pay insurance? Not gubmint pool insurance? I dunno…????
JBlim on February 04 at 11:01 a.m.
Dazee says “12-million-people-fall-out-labor-force-one-month-labor-force-participation-rate-tumbles-“
{sigh} that has been debunked already, Dazee. Rick Santelli and Zero Hedge are ignorant hacks:
“…No Rick Santelli and Zero Hedge, One Million People Did Not Drop Out of the Labor Force Last Month
So today following an otherwise pretty darn good jobs report, we get the usual perma-pessimists at Zero Hedge and Rick Santelli over at CNBC proclaiming that the report showed a drop of over 1 million people from the labor force in one month. Of course, as ususal, both Santelli and Zero Hedge have a real reading comprehension problem and completely missed that this million+ people isn’t some new January phenomenon, but a result of the BLS using the 2010 census data to have more accurate data. In other words, the changes in the Household Survey to the various measures had taken place over the years prior to 2010, but for simplicity’s sake, the BLS incorporates these changes into one month (which they clearly point out). …”
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/02/no-rick-santelli-and-zero-hedge-one-million-people-did-not-drop-out-of-the-labor-force-last-month/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBigPicture+%28The+Big+Picture%29