The Department of Labor released their September Employment Situation Summary today. In the report they announced that the unemployment rate had remained unchanged during September and was still 9.6 percent. They also noted that private sector employment rose by 64,000. You can see the full report here.
The U.S. Census Bureau issued their August Wholesale Trade report today (you can read the full text here). According to the report, wholesale inventories increased .8 percent in August, which was down slightly from the 1.5 percent increase in July but still more than double the increase that was expected by economists.
Both reports seemed to give investors some confidence about the economy and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed over 11,000 today for the first time in over five months, when it closed at 11,151.83 on May 3rd. In total, the Dow rose 57.90 points to 11,006.48. The Nasdaq rose 18.24 points to 2,401.91 and the S&P 500 climbed 7.09 points to 1,165.15.
European markets were mixed Friday as were Asian markets.
Stocks in the news: Gap Inc (NYSE: GPS), Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA), Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC).
