US Economy Adding Jobs; Stocks Soar
By: Administrative Account | Source: CNSNews.com
October 9, 2003 5:58PM EST
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
October 09, 2003
(CNSNews.com) - The latest government numbers point to fewer layoffs and more jobs - good news for the rebounding economy, analysts said.
The federal government announced Thursday that initial applications for jobless benefits fell to their lowest level in more than eight months last week.
The U.S. Labor Department said there were 382,000 first-time applications for unemployment benefits in the week ending on Saturday, Oct. 4 - down from 405,000 in the prior week.
The Labor Department sees this as a positive trend - companies are retaining workers - and so did Wall Street. As of 11:20 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 100 points.
"What we have here is an accelerating economy," Bloomberg News quoted one money manager as saying: "Fewer people are being laid off and that means there's going to be more money in the hands of people to spend.
There will be lots of positive earnings surprises," said Buzz Zaino, who manages about $2 billion for Royce & Associates LLC in New York.
Better-than-expected retail sales at some of the nation's biggest chains and better-than-expected third-quarter earnings reports from some companies also contributed to the bullishness on Wall Street, economists were quoted as saying.
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