The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a report today that acknowledged the financial recovery for the first part of this year had been stronger than expected. They balanced this good news with the very real concern that an unstable European economy could spread and cause further economic upheaval. The upshot? Recovery is going well but is surrounded by land mines. Regardless of the potential pitfalls surrounding the message of economic recovery, investors were optimistic after the report was released and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up as many as 86 points soon after the market opened.
By the end of the day the Dow had exceeded its early morning gains and closed up a total of 120.71 points at 10,138.99. Likewise, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 ended the day with gains. The Nasdaq was up 15.93 points at 2,175.40 and the S&P 500 was up 9.98 to close at 1,070.25.
European and Asian markets were mixed on Thursday with all but the Shanghai Composite closing up. Since the IMF report specifically mentions Europe as a potential economic problem area it is interesting to see that the FTSE 100, DAX and CAC 40 still managed an up day.
