Obama is giving his big speech tonight, so what better time for the European Central Bank to announce a bond-buying program and send global markets soaring? Didn’t Mitt Romney spend half his convention insulting Europe? Didn’t he recently travel to Europe and insult basically everyone he met? It must be a giant payback! Wouldn’t Rush Limbaugh agree?
The U.S. Dow Jones industrial average was up 217.11 points, or 1.66 percent, at 13,264.59 late afternoon in New York. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 26.43 points, or 1.88 percent, at 1,429.87, its highest level in four years.
The rise in U.S. stocks was helped by reports showing American companies added staff in August at the fastest clip in five months and an improvement in service sector employment. A third report showed new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to the lowest level in a month.
U.S. private employers added a stronger-than-expected 201,000 jobs in August, according to payrolls processor ADP, while the government said new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to the lowest level in a month.
The data was the latest to hint U.S. economic growth may be recovering, and it raised chances the government’s more comprehensive monthly jobs report on Friday could be stronger than economists expect.
“Today’s U.S. reports all beat expectations to put a positive spin on the risks as we approach Friday’s U.S. jobs data,” said Michael Englund, chief economist at Action Economics in Boulder, Colorado.
People are getting jobs. People are making money on their savings and investments. President Clinton promised that this would happen last night, and it’s coming true already!!
Sometimes it sucks to be Mitt Romney.
