Stocks Rise at Open as Jobless Claims Fall

But volatility ensures we'll need to update this in no time
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 9, 2008 9:12 AM CDT
Stocks Rise at Open as Jobless Claims Fall
Trader Roderick Aird watches U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, as he works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008.   (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Stocks saw a strong open this morning, with the Dow rising 135 points after a positive quarterly report from IBM and a rally in European stocks, the Wall Street Journal reports. But investors were also mulling a worse-than-expected jobs report. Though new jobless claims fell by 20,000 last week, moving off a 7-year high, analysts had expected a slightly bigger decline.

IBM reported a 20% jump in profits, leading shares to gain 5.3%, as the Nasdaq and S&P gained 2% and 1.5% respectively. It was a bitter anniversary on Wall Street: One year ago today the Dow hit its all-time high. Today also marks the first day that financial stocks can once again be shorted, after a three-week freeze. (More stock market stories.)

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