Courtesy of John Nyaradi.
ETFs partied hard today as the NASDAQ reached a new 11 year high and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its highest point since May 2008
Today was a stock market party as the S&P 500 rose 1.46% and the Russell 2000 Index rose 2.24% to finish up an outstanding week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ stole all the cake however, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its highest point since May 2008 and the NASDAQ finished at its highest point since December of 2000, a new 11 year record.
Of course, major index ETFs joined in the celebration as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:SPY) gained 1.37%, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEARCA:DIA) punched up 1.21%, the PowerShares QQQ Trust Series 1 ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ) jumped up 1.37%, and the iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (NYSEARCA:IWM) gained 2.18%.
Today’s stock market and ETF party was likely a celebration of the excellent economic reports released today, which indicated that the nation’s unemployment rate dropped to 8.3%, the US Economy added 234,000 jobs in January, and the private sector added 250,000 jobs. All in all, the US economy is improving and today’s positive indicators were all good reasons to party. Add in a Facebook IPO and the Super Bowl this weekend, and it is no surprise that stocks and ETFs rose so high.
Europe, however still looms in the background as Greek debt talks are scheduled to spill into the weekend. I can imagine that any more problems with Greece would tank the world economy, so it is hard to believe that a temporary solution is out of reach. Depending on the outcome, Monday could be a bloodbath or a continuation of today’s party as hopefully we will have more information about the Greek and European dilemma.
Bottom Line: Stocks and ETFs partied hard today in celebration of improved jobs data and a reduced unemployment rate. Europe remains quiet for now however any action abroad over the weekend will likely have an affect on Monday’s trading. After a solid week, today’s party, and a multi billion dollar Facebook IPO filing, everyone probably deserves a rest over the weekend!
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