The holiday weekend in the U.S. didn’t actually help improve the economy at all, but it did seem to improve the outlook of U.S. investors this morning as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose as many as 165 points just 45 minutes after the market opened. Helping to push the Dow up was the Institute for Supply Management’s report today that non-manufacturing economic activity actually grew in June. So while economic growth has slowed in the sectors outside of manufacturing, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t grown, which must have eased some investor fears about a deeper recession in the U.S.
Also helping lighten the mood was the fact that European and Asian markets were up on Tuesday, showing that improved confidence can reach across the pond. As bank regulators get ready to perform stress tests on European banks this week, it is unknown whether investors will continue to keep the markets up.
But by the end of the day, investors put their conservative thinking caps back on and gains reduced significantly. The Dow closed at 9,745.67 up a total of 59.19 points from Friday. The Nasdaq rose 2.09 points to close at 2,093.88 and the S&P 500 climbed 5.47 points to close at 1,028.05.
