Jobs Data Fail to Halt Stocks' Rise --- Industrials Up 12.43; Bonds Rally Strongly And Dollar Is Mixed
Stock prices climbed modestly despite a steep jump in unemployment claims. But the fresh evidence of economic malaise sparked a strong bond market rally. The dollar was mixed.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 12.43 to 3290.04 in moderate trading. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 1.15 to 412.08 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.36 to 565.24.</br></br>Analysts said while the ups and downs of foreign markets have steered the U.S. stock market for much of this week, that influence may be waning as investors turn their attention back to the U.S. economy.</br></br>"When you get up in the morning and hear on the news that Tokyo is down 2% or 4%, you can certainly get pretty depressed," said Joseph McAlinden, chief market strategist at Dillon Read. "But the fact is that the Tokyo market has dropped from 39,000 to its current level over the past two years, while we're still near a record high."</br></br>Yesterday, stocks in Tokyo rebounded strongly while U.S. stocks rose only slightly. Initial claims for unemployment for the week ended July 11 shot up a startling 19,000 to 422,000, when many economists had expected a modest decline. "The rise in unemployment claims was a little discouraging," Mr. McAlinden conceded. He noted, however, that some claim filings probably were carried over from the previous week, when many state offices closed in observance of the July 4 holiday.