Retailers strong June sales lifts Wall Street

Dow Jones: 12,719.49 (+93.47) Nasdaq: 2,872.66 (+38.64) S&P 500: 1,353.22 (+14.00)US STOCKS jumped yesterday, sending the Standard and Poor's 500 Index close to a three-year high, as retail and job market data bolstered confidence in the economy.

“Economic data is coming in better than expected, and certainly the beat on the jobs number today came earlier than most investors had expected,” said Christopher Blum, New York-based chief investment officer for the US behavioural finance group at JPMorgan Asset Management.

The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 93.47 points, or 0.74 per cent, to 12,719.49.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 14 points, or 1.05 per cent, to 1,353.22.

The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 38.64 points, or 1.36 per cent, to 2,872.66.

Equities rose yesterday as figures from ADP showed companies in the US added 157,000 workers to their payrolls in June. The data comes before the government’s June payrolls report today.

Separate data from the Labor Department showed jobless claims fell by 14,000 to 418,000 last week. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls and those getting extended payments also declined.

Target jumped 6.7 per cent to $51.67 while Kohl’s, a department-store chain that has been in business since 1962, soared 7.1 per cent to $55.78.

Limited Brands, operator of the Victoria’s Secret chain, rose 2.7 per cent to $40.36 after posting a gain of 12 per cent in same-store sales for June.

Urban Outfitters, a clothing retailer, climbed 6 per cent to $32.58 after Morgan Stanley raised the stock to “overweight” from “equal weight”.

Financial companies rose 1.6 per cent, the biggest gain among 10 groups in the SP 500.

JPMorgan climbed 1.9 per cent to $41.32, for the third-largest increase in the Dow.

Wells Fargo added 1.9 per cent to $28.66. Citigroup advanced 1.5 per cent to $42.63 and Bank of America jumped 1.7 per cent to $10.92.

Seagate Technology rose 2 per cent to $16.64. The world’s largest maker of computer disk drives was raised to “overweight” from “underweight” at JPMorgan.

Affymetrix tumbled 18 per cent to $6.59. – (Bloomberg/Reuters)