Market Re-Cap 12/05/2011
Last week was a good week for the markets, with the DOW jumping 7%, S&P 7.4%, and the NASDAQ moved 7.6% higher. Most of this movement was brought by a combination of good news from our own economic data and a combined effort from Global Central Banks to help the liquidity in Europe.
Investors got a week to take a deep breath and recover a bit from the prior two week slide. It is important to point that the moves we saw from the Central Banks is important, but it is not a solution. We still need the ECB to work on measures to sure up the fiscal turmoil and get the house in order, but a positive move last week got things moving in the right direction.
Our own economic data showed an improvement in the Unemployment rate at 8.6%. We showed job growth of about 120k, which is a noticeable change, but we still also have a lot of work ahead. For the first time in months we did see signs of compromise from our political leaders as they work to extend the payroll tax extension and unemployment benefits. These moves are positive for the markets and economy and we will have to see how far this traction goes.