U.S. stocks continue to swing back and forth this week as positive housing and jobs data helped to boost Wall Street trading today, bringing the market back on track to break its six-week losing streak. Construction on new homes improved last month, recovering from a big decline in April. The U.S. Commerce Department said housing starts rose 3.5 percent last month, exceeding expectations from economists. The U.S. Department of Labor also announced today that the number of unemployment benefits claims fell 16,000 to 414,000, also exceeding economist expectations. Still weighing on the market, however, is the ongoing crisis in Greece and the European Union. The lack of progress could have a dire effect on Wall Street as a number of banks have also underwritten a “bucketload of Greek credit-default swaps,” according to a report by Marketwatch. For its part, the International Monetary Fund has stated that it is prepared to continue to support Greece if the nation’s government can agree on the bailout package with the European Union.
Major U.S. Stock Indices
DJIA: 11,976.05 (+0.66 percent)
S&P 500: 1,272.02 (+0.52 percent)
NASDAQ: 2,637.33 (+0.22 percent)
Russell 2000: 787.23 (+1.00 percent)
In other news:
- Research In Motion (RIMM) is expected to report a first quarter net loss later today, yet shares are trading up thus far. [Marketwatch]
- Shares of Pandora (P), the Internet radio company that just went public, have fallen below its IPO price. [Bloomberg]
- It’s now that Goldman Sachs (GS) shorted the housing market that should stem outrage, it’s how they went about to do it. [Dealbook]
- ING Direct, the U.S. online banking business of ING (ING), is being sold to Capital One (COF). Capital One will jump three spots to the sixth largest bank with the acquisition after beating out competing suitor General Electric (GE) for the unit.
- IBM (IBM) turns 100 this month. [Fortune]
Check back for more news.
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