US markets closes higher on strong monthly jobs report

10 Mar 2012 Evaluate

The US markets edged higher on Friday, for a third session after another strong monthly jobs report illustrated the recovery continues, boosting optimism in the world’s largest economy. Investors were cheerful that despite the economy growing at a below-average rate, is still improving. The US created 227,000 jobs in February and more people found work in the prior two months than initially reported, the government stated, suggesting the economy’s recent momentum is likely to continue. The Labor Department stated nonfarm payrolls climbed by 227,000 last month, more than expectations. The agency also revised higher jobs growth for December and January.  The unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.3% as nearly half-a-million workers re-entered the labor force in search of jobs.

In Europe, paving the path toward a second rescue package, Greece confirmed a deal with its private creditors to reduce its public debt and avoid default, although concern about the euro zone isn’t expected to disappear. The Greek government moved a step closer to securing a much-needed second bailout, announcing 83.5% of its private-sector bondholders agreed to a bond-swap deal, with expectations that proportion would rise. The take-up rate was short of the 90% needed to prevent legal force to get the rest of the private bondholders to participate. As a result, Greece’s finance ministry stated that it had gotten approval for collective-action clauses, or CACs, which would bring the total participation rate to 96% by essentially forcing some bondholders on board. The government has also given some bondholders an extended deadline to March 23.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 14.08 points, or 0.11 percent, at 12,922.00. The S&P 500 gained 4.96 points, or 0.36 percent, at 1,370.87, while the Nasdaq was up by 17.92 points, or 0.60 percent, at 2,988.34.

Indian ADRs closed in green on Friday, ICICI Bank was up 1.88%, HDFC Bank was up 0.64%, Tata Motors was up 0.53%, Infosys Technologies was up 0.48% and Sterlite Industries was up 0.33%. 

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