Wall Street ended a fairly quiet four-day week with gains as investors expected trade to resume full swing next week with a slew of keenly watched indicators on the health of the US economy.
This week saw trade moving mostly up as investors’ confidence was bolstered by data released on Thursday showing a drop in weekly jobless claims and a significant narrowing of the trade deficit.
A US Federal Reserve report on Wednesday saying the US economy was seeing continued growth, albeit with “widespread signs of a deceleration,” dampened optimism, but did little to pull down trade.
“We came into the month of September with some concerns about a double dip recession and I think these concerns are slowly receding,” Jefferies market analyst Art Hogan said.
Overall, trade volume remained very low as the week was cut short by Monday’s Labor Day holiday and the Jewish new year.
Trade is likely to resume tomorrow with higher volume and continued volatility amid a string of corporate activity, including earning reports from Fedex, Oracle and Research in Motion.
“Next week could be the first real test of what investors are really thinking going into the fourth quarter,” Wells Fargo Securities analyst Gina Martin said.
Investors are likely to be focused on a slew of economic data that will stream in throughout the week, including figures on retail sales, industrial production, jobless claims and manufacturing surveys from New York and Philadelphia.
Most analysts expect the data to underscore recent months’ strengthening in the industrial and manufacturing sectors, which have underpinned the US’ sluggish recovery from its worst recession in decades.
However, indicators on consumer mood and the state of the labor market are expected to have the biggest influence on the market.
Analysts said that political events were also likely to sway markets ahead of November mid-term elections.
This week saw “the usual ups and downs. We shouldn’t be surprised to see the same kind of ups and downs in the next weeks until we clear the elections,” independent market analyst Joel Naroff said.
“We’re dealing with expectations rather than economic reality,” he said.
US President Barack Obama on Monday pledged to invest US$50 billion to create news jobs in a massive infrastructure campaign as he struggles to show Americans his economic policies are yielding positive results.
For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.14 percent to 10,462.77 and the broader S&P 500 index gained 0.46 percent to 1,109.55.
The technology-rich NASDAQ composite index was up 0.39 percent to 2,242.48.
Last week, Wall Street closed its strongest week in two months after a much-anticipated jobs report lifted hopes that the US economic recovery was on the right track.
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