Wall St. Up On Positive Jobs Report

A positive jobs report turned out to be just what the markets needed for a post holiday rally. The Labor Department reported that nonfarm payrolls showed employers added 195,000 jobs in June exceeding expectations of 165,000.

The Dow Jones industrial average (DJI) was up 147.29 points, or 0.98 percent, at 15,135.84. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (GSPC) was up 16.48 points, or 1.02 percent, at 1,631.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index (IXIC) was up 35.71 points, or 1.04 percent, at 3,479.38.

For the holiday-shortened week, the Dow rose 1.5 percent, the S&P 500 was up 1.6 percent and the Nasdaq composite advanced 2.2 percent.

Small-cap shares and bank stocks were generally up with Bank of America Corp (BAC) rose 1.8 percent to $13.06 while Citigroup Inc (NYS:C) gained 1.8 percent to $48.53.

Gold on the other hand fell 3% as investors found their way out of holding the precious metal. Whether or not the Federal Reserve decides to move forward with tapering the $85 billion a month bond purchases that have stimulated stock market gains in 2013 remains to be seen.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has repeatedly stated that any easing in the policy would be determined by a lower unemployment rate. The unemployment rate held steady at 7.6%. Still most economists expect the Fed to act in September at the earliest.

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Karen Jackson

Karen Jackson has always been passionate about technology. All the way through high-school she immersed herself in computers and web-design. Her ambitious nature helped her become a pro in Adobe Photoshop only by watching online videos and working with the program herself. This is also the program that she mostly uses in the creation of websites at her work-place. Technological innovation and gadgets that push the boundaries of what we are comfortable with have always fascinated her, so expect to see some weird gadget reviews coming from her.