Weekly Market Recap – August 3, 2012

(For the week ended August 3, 2012.)

Stocks rallied Friday, ending a four-day losing streak, after the U.S. Labor Department reported a 163,000 jump in July non-farm payrolls, topping market forecasts of a 100,000 rise. The gains put each major U.S. equity index into positive territory for the week. The jobless rate also climbed, to 8.3% from 8.2%, but the focus among investors was clearly on the non-farm payrolls growth. Stocks had closed lower Monday and Tuesday as investors awaited Wednesday’s Federal Reserve decision on monetary policy, then continued their slide in the middle of the week after the Fed took no new steps to aid the economy. The Fed did, however, indicate it was ready to act if job growth doesn’t improve. Disappointment with Europe’s lingering euro and debt problems also dragged on the market prior to Friday’s turnaround.

 

Through

8/3/12*

 1 Week YTD 1 Year Closing Value
S&P 500 0.4% 10.6% 15.9% 1,390.99
Dow Jones Industrials 0.2% 7.2% 15.0% 13,096.17
Nasdaq Composite 0.3% 13.9% 16.1% 2,967.90

 

Source: Standard & Poor’s. The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrials, and Nasdaq Composite are unmanaged indexes. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

*Price only. Does not include dividends.
Encouraging data Data released during the week revealed that personal incomes rose 0.5% in June, the S&P Case-Shiller House Price Index rose 2.2% in May, the Chicago PMI rose to 53.7 in July, and the Consumer Confidence Index rose to 65.9 in July.
Treasuries The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.58% on Friday afternoon from 1.52% the previous week after better-than-expected jobs and economic reports eased fears about the U.S. economic outlook.
On the horizon Following Friday’s surprisingly upbeat government jobs report, markets will focus on trade and consumer credit data in the coming week hoping for more good news. Second-quarter non-farm productivity data will also be closely watched.