Today started out as one of those positive days again as the investment climate appeared to be getting better. Then the unemployment data came out, and frankly it wasn't really as bad as one would expect. But shortly after 10:00 AM, we saw profit takers come into the market. In fact, even oil traders ran oil up after shorts covered after a good week of selling Texas Tea; oil closed up $3.82 at $116.34.
Below are the unofficial closing levels for major US index levels:
- DJIA 13,051.36 (+41.36; +0.32%)
- S&P500 1,413.96 (+4.62; +0.33%)
- NASDAQ 2,476.14 (-4.57; -0.18%)
- 10YR-TBond 3.845% (+0.096)
Agrium Inc. (NYSE:
AGU) was a winner with shares up almost 5% at $82.25 in the last minutes of the day. The agricultural nutrients supplier beat earnings, and this gave some pause to the selling in the potash and fertilizer stock selling that had been seen this week.