Stocks Skyrocket, Unemployment Jumps, Bank of America Says No

  • February 6, 2009
  • Dave Goodboy

The worst unemployment numbers since 1974 did nothing to stop stocks from skyrocketing today. Extreme optimism over the government bailout counteracted the poor economic data sending stocks into the stratosphere. Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis said no to nationalization pushing the stock higher and adding to the positive feelings in the market. The DJIA soared +217.52 to 8280.59, the tech heavy Nasdaq advanced +45.47 to 1591.71 and the broad based market barometer S&P 500 climbed +22.75 to 868.60.

Bank of America
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Skechers
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Weight Watcher’s
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Skyworks Solutions
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Oil fell by $1.00 to $40.03, Gold dropped $0.10 to $914.30 and the fear index VIX pulled back 0.82% to 43.37.

Market Snapshot

Dow

 +217.52 8280.59

NASDAQ

 +45.47 1591.71

S&P 500

 +22.75 868.60

Economic
News

Personal Income (Dec): Consensus: -0.4%, Prior: -0.4%, Revised From: -0.2%

Personal Spending (Dec): Consensus: -0.9%, Prior: -0.8%, Revised From: -0.6%

Construction Spending (Dec): Consensus: -1.2%, Prior: -0.6%

ISM Index (Jan): Consensus: 32.5, Prior: 32.4

Pending Home Sales (Dec): Consensus: 0.0%, Prior: -4.0%

Auto Sales (Jan): Consensus: NA, Prior: NA

Truck Sales (Jan): Consensus: NA, Prior: NA

ADP Employment Change (Jan): Consensus: -515K, Prior: -693K

ISM Services (Jan): Consensus: 39.0, Prior: 40.1

Crude Inventories (Jan. 30): Consensus: NA, Prior: 6.2M

Initial Claims (Jan. 31): Consensus: 592K, Prior: 588K

Productivity-Prel (Q4): Consensus: 1.0%, Prior: 1.3%

Unit Labor Costs (Q4): Consensus: 3.0%, Prior: 2.8%

Factory Orders (Dec): Consensus: -3.0%, Prior: -4.6%

Average Workweek (Jan): Consensus: 33.3, Prior: 33.3

Hourly Earnings (Jan): Consensus: 0.3%, Prior: 0.3%

Nonfarm Payrolls (Jan): Consensus: -500K, Prior: -524K

Unemployment Rate (Jan): Consensus: 7.5%, Prior: 7.2%

Consumer Credit (Dec): Consensus: -$2.3B, Prior: -$7.9B