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Stocks rise for 5th day after slight improvement in jobless claims; P&G forecast boosts mood
By TIM PARADIS
AP Business Writer
(AP) 03:17:03 PM (ET), Thursday, September 10, 2009 (NEW YORK)
Investors added more money to stocks Thursday following a drop in weekly unemployment claims and an upbeat forecast from Procter & Gamble.

The market gained momentum in the late afternoon after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said confidence and stability were returning after the panic that began a year ago.

The Labor Department's report that jobless claims fell more than expected to 550,000 last week provided a new dose of optimism about the economy and helped the market advance for a fifth straight day, the longest winning streak since November.

P&G's prediction that sales will rebound this fall also boosted the mood. The maker of Tide soap and Gillette razors is the biggest gainer among the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones industrial average.

Geithner told a Congressional panel that monitors the Treasury's $700 billion financial bailout that the administration is starting to withdraw a number of emergency support programs assembled during the height of the financial crisis. The White House expects to receive $50 billion in further repayments from banks over the next 18 months.

Investors still found room for worry, however. Agricultural company Monsanto Co. warned that its 2009 earnings would come in at the low end of its forecast and said it would cut more jobs than previously announced.

Traders are cautious after stocks posted four straight days of gains, and many analysts are still predicting a pullback after the market's huge rally over the spring and summer. The Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen 52.8 percent in six months since hitting a 12-year low in March, and now sits at an 11-month high. However, it's still down 34 percent from its peak in October 2007.

Ralph Fogel, co-chief investment officer at Fogel Neale Partners in New York, argues that too many analysts are now expecting a pullback for it to actually happen. He pointed to a well-tested piece of Wall Street wisdom that if a certain prediction becomes too widely expected in the marketplace, that conclusion is often wrong.

"I'm not sure why sure this market is going to slow up so much," Fogel said. "We look for a nice continued move upward."

In late afternoon trading, the Dow rose 49.96, or 0.5 percent, to 9,597.18. The index traded above its closing high for the year of 9,581.

The broader S&P 500 index rose 7.01, or 0.7 percent, to 1,040.38. The index hasn't risen five straight days since a streak that ended Nov. 28.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 15.50, or 0.8 percent, to 2,075.89.

Bond prices jumped after an auction of $12 billion auction of 30-year Treasury notes drew strong demand. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.33 percent from 3.48 percent late Wednesday. The yield on the 30-year bond fell to 4.17 percent from 4.33 percent.

Investors made selective bets on companies following a mixed batch of corporate forecasts. P&G rose $2.30, or 4.3 percent, to $56.06, while Monsanto fell $4.36, or 5.2 percent, to $79.12.

Some analysts remain cautious. Subodh Kumar, global investment strategist at Subodh Kumar & Associates in Toronto, contends that the market has gone too far without a break.

"The fact that it got here without any meaningful corrections means it hasn't stopped since March to test the validity of its assumptions," he said.

More than two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 813.5 million shares compared with 875.3 million at the same point Wednesday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 5.85, or 1 percent, to 592.25.

The dollar fell against other major currencies. Gold slipped.

Light, sweet crude rose 63 cents to $71.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.3 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.4 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.1 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 2 percent.


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* Not counting Labor Day Monday, From September 1st to 4th and 8th,9th,today...The Stocks have been interesting. *

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