US stocks rise
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
NEW YORK, June 29 (Bloomberg): US stocks rose, extending the best quarterly rally for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index since 1998, as higher oil prices lifted energy shares and speculation grew that the recession is easing.
Exxon Mobil Corp. gained 2.2 per cent as crude climbed above $71 a barrel. Microsoft Corp. added 2.2 per cent after Deutsche Bank AG raised its price estimate for the world's biggest software company. Ford Motor Co. rallied 3 per cent after predicting the slowest slide in sales among major automakers. Treasuries advanced for a third day, sending 10-year yields to the lowest level in a month.
The S&P 500, which capped its first back-to-back weekly declines since March on June 26, rose 0.9 per cent to 927.23 at 4:08 p.m. in New York. It is up 16 per cent in the second quarter, which ends tomorrow.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 90.99 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 8,529.38. Three stocks advanced for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.
"Some investors are assuming that we'll see some economic numbers that may meet or exceed expectations this week," said David Heupel, who helps manage $60 billion at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans in Minneapolis. "Whenever you've got some potential or existing data that shows that things are getting less bad, it forces some of the money on the sidelines to be put to work."
The benchmark index for US stock options fell below its closing level the day before Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s September collapse as investors paid less to hedge against equity losses.
The VIX, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index is known, lost 2.2 per cent to 25.35. The VIX measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500.
Stocks rallied ahead of reports that economists estimate will show unemployment in the US probably rose at a slower pace and the manufacturing slump eased this month as evidence mounted that the end of recession is in view. The jobless rate grew 0.2 per centage point to 9.6 per cent, the highest in 26 years, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The gain would be the smallest since November 2008. A survey of purchasing managers may show manufacturing shrank at the slowest pace in 10 months.
Exxon Mobil Corp. gained 2.2 per cent as crude climbed above $71 a barrel. Microsoft Corp. added 2.2 per cent after Deutsche Bank AG raised its price estimate for the world's biggest software company. Ford Motor Co. rallied 3 per cent after predicting the slowest slide in sales among major automakers. Treasuries advanced for a third day, sending 10-year yields to the lowest level in a month.
The S&P 500, which capped its first back-to-back weekly declines since March on June 26, rose 0.9 per cent to 927.23 at 4:08 p.m. in New York. It is up 16 per cent in the second quarter, which ends tomorrow.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 90.99 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 8,529.38. Three stocks advanced for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.
"Some investors are assuming that we'll see some economic numbers that may meet or exceed expectations this week," said David Heupel, who helps manage $60 billion at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans in Minneapolis. "Whenever you've got some potential or existing data that shows that things are getting less bad, it forces some of the money on the sidelines to be put to work."
The benchmark index for US stock options fell below its closing level the day before Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s September collapse as investors paid less to hedge against equity losses.
The VIX, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index is known, lost 2.2 per cent to 25.35. The VIX measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500.
Stocks rallied ahead of reports that economists estimate will show unemployment in the US probably rose at a slower pace and the manufacturing slump eased this month as evidence mounted that the end of recession is in view. The jobless rate grew 0.2 per centage point to 9.6 per cent, the highest in 26 years, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The gain would be the smallest since November 2008. A survey of purchasing managers may show manufacturing shrank at the slowest pace in 10 months.