Market Recap: Stocks Up on Lower Jobless Claims

Markets closed up on Wall Street today:

• Dow +0.52 percent
• S&P +0.83 percent
• Nasdaq +0.83 percent
• Oil +0.73 percent
• Gold -0.45 percent

On the commodities front:

• Oil (NYSE:USO) climbed to $99.39 a barrel
• Gold (NYSE:GLD) fell to $1,606.30 an ounce
• Silver (NYSE:SLV) fell 0.41 percent to settle at $29.13

(Related: U.S. Economy Grew Less Than Previously Estimated in Third Quarter)

Today’s markets were up because:

1) Consumer Sentiment: Consumer confidence in the U.S. rose more than forecast in December, to a six-month high, as unemployment allegedly declined and gasoline prices moved lower. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan survey of consumer expectations for six months from now, which more accurately projects the direction of consumer spending, also rose to 63.6 in December, compared to 55.4 last month. This would mark the fourth straight gain and the biggest point increase in a single month since May.

2) Jobless Claims: In the week ended December 17, new claims for jobless benefits dropped by 4,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 364,000—the lowest since April 2008—bolstering the view that the economy is “gaining momentum” after the national unemployment rate declined sharply to 8.6 percent in November. Until last month, the unemployment rate had hovered at or just above 9 percent for many months on end.

3) Financials: Despite a rather thinly traded session, gains were broad-based, with financial stocks leading the way. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley each climbed around 6 percent, while Bank of America and JPMorgan were both up more than 3 percent, Goldman Sachs climbed 2.6 percent, and Wells Fargo climbed 1.3 percent.

[Editor’s note: portions of the above originally appeared on Wall St. Cheat Sheet.]