Wall St Bulls Take Charge

US stocks jumped more than 1 per cent on Friday as news that employers cut fewer jobs than expected last month fuelled investors’ appetite for riskier assets like stocks.

Standout sectors included financial, energy, big manufacturing and technology stocks.

The tech advance put the Nasdaq on course for its highest close in 18 months. The semiconductor index was up 1.6 per cent, while the KBW Bank index shot up 2.3 per cent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 122.13 points, or 1.2 percent, to 10,566.27. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 15.65 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 1138.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 33.40 points, or 1.5 per cent, to 2325.71.

Borrowing by U.S. consumers unexpectedly rose in January for the first time in a year, led by auto loans and a sign Americans are gaining confidence in the economy.

Consumer credit increased $5 billion, or 2.4 percent at an annual rate, the Federal Reserve said today in Washington. Borrowing dropped $4.6 billion in December, more than first estimated. The figures track credit card debt and non-revolving loans, including those for automobile purchases.

Stocks extended gains after the report also indicated that banks may becoming more willing to lend as the economy recovers from the worst recession since World War II. Growth may get a bigger lift from consumer purchases that account for about 70 percent of the economy when companies start to hire.

“Spending is holding up,” said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s in New York. “People are feeling a little bit more comfortable. They’re sticking their heads out of the shell a little more.”

Stocks gained for a sixth day and Treasury securities fell after a smaller-than-estimated loss of jobs in February. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 1.3 percent to 1,137.51 at 3:33 p.m. in New York. The 10-year Treasury note declined, pushing up the yield eight basis points to 3.68 percent.

February Employment

The economy lost 36,000 jobs in February, less than anticipated, after a decline of 26,000 a month earlier even as snowstorms in parts of the nation forced some employers to temporarily close, Labor Department figures showed earlier today. The unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent.

Economists had forecast consumer credit would drop by $4.5 billion in January after a previously reported $1.7 billion decrease in December, according to the median of 33 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Projections ranged from a decrease of $12.3 billion to an increase of $2.4 billion.

The January gain in credit was the biggest since July 2008.

Revolving debt, such as credit cards, fell by $1.7 billion in January, according to the Fed’s statistics. Revolving credit has fallen 16 straight months, the longest series of declines since the Fed began keeping those records in 1968. The January drop was the smallest since July.

Non-revolving debt, including automobile and mobile-home loans, rose by $6.6 billion after a $4.9 billion gain. The Fed’s report doesn’t cover borrowing secured by real estate.

Auto sales in the U.S. cooled in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 10.8 million, according to industry statistics. The pace slowed in February to 10.36 million.

Non-Revolving Credit

Non-revolving credit, on an unadjusted basis, rose $10.3 billion at commercial banks. Federal government non-revolving loans, such as those for student loans, also increased an unadjusted $10.3 billion.

Consumer spending during the final three months of last year rose at a 1.7 percent annual rate following an increase of 2.8 percent in the third quarter, Commerce Department figures showed on Feb. 26. Spending contributed to economic growth of 5.9 percent at annual rate, the best performance in more than six years.

A gain in February sales at retailers open at least a year indicates sustained spending by consumers. Comparable-store sales climbed 4.1 percent, according to Retail Metrics Inc. It was the sixth straight gain and the biggest in 27 months.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. said yesterday that sales rose 5 percent, while Macy’s Inc., the second-biggest U.S. department- store company, reported a 3.7 percent gain.

“The consumer is starting to come out of hibernation and feel better about their situation,” Ken Perkins, president of Swampscott, Massachusetts-based Retail Metrics, said yesterday in an interview. More than three-fourths of retailers in the Retail Metrics survey beat estimates, he said.

Americas		Price	Change (%)	1 Year %	Last Updated
	Toronto Composite	11966.46	+141.49 (1.20%)	+56.80%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Mexican Bolsa IPC Index	32471.79	+269.79 (0.84%)	+89.97%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Brazil Bovespa Index	68894.61	+1079.90 (1.59%)	+88.92%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Argentina Merval Index	2298.74	+14.48 (0.63%)	+147.14%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Chile IPSA Index	3789.77	+47.60 (1.27%)	+57.80%	Mar 05, 4:00pm

Asian Pacific		Price	Change (%)	1 Year %	Last Updated
	Nikkei 225 Index	10368.96	+223.24 (2.20%)	+43.42%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	ASX All Ordinaries	4774.70	+17.10 (0.36%)	+50.55%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Seoul Composite	1634.57	+16.37 (1.01%)	+59.38%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Hong Kong Hang Seng	20787.97	+212.19 (1.03%)	+72.75%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Shanghai	3031.06	+7.69 (0.25%)	+46.33%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Taiwan Weighted	7666.26	+96.46 (1.27%)	+72.84%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Singapore Straits Times	2790.29	+21.59 (0.78%)	+82.55%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Bombay Sensex Index	16994.49	+22.79 (0.13%)	+101.66%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Jakarta Composite	2578.77	+13.13 (0.51%)	+103.88%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Kuala Lumpur Composite	1299.78	+15.69 (1.22%)	+49.62%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	PSE Composite	3069.63	+35.50 (1.17%)	+65.04%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Sri Lanka All Share	3824.17	+18.32 (0.48%)	+133.26%	Mar 05, 4:00pm

Europe		Price	Change (%)	1 Year %	Last Updated
	FTSE 100 Index	5599.76	+72.60 (1.31%)	+59.44%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Paris CAC 40	3910.42	+82.01 (2.14%)	+53.08%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Frankfurt Index	5877.36	+82.04 (1.42%)	+59.25%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Milan BCI General	15743.00	+0.00 (0.00%)	+36.54%	Mar 04, 5:30pm
	Belgium 20 Index	2611.03	+28.07 (1.09%)	+66.70%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Swiss Market Index	6847.78	+42.91 (0.63%)	+57.13%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	OSE Norway All Share	417.18	+7.39 (1.80%)	+74.20%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	ATX Vienna	2455.78	+46.24 (1.92%)	+72.30%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Amsterdam Total Return General	338.68	+6.23 (1.87%)	+67.19%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Madrid General	1143.83	+27.84 (2.49%)	+50.55%	Mar 05, 4:00pm
	Stockholm General Index	315.00	+3.89 (1.25%)	+68.83%	Mar 05, 4:00pm

Africa/Middle East		Price	Change (%)	1 Year %	Last Updated
	Israel TA 100 Index	1138.30	+0.00 (0.00%)	+91.42%	Mar 05, 3:36am
	TEL-TECH INDEX	319.15	+0.00 (0.00%)	+99.74%	Mar 05, 2:15am
	TEL-TECH-15 INDEX	272.44	+0.00 (0.00%)	+85.59%	Mar 05, 2:15am

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