US stocks climb slightly despite double-digit jobless rate

Nov 6, 2009, 21:14 GMT

New York - US stocks posted mild gains Friday to end the week as investors shrugged off government figures that put the unemployment rate above 10 per cent.

The Labour Department said the jobless rate hit 10.2 per cent in the month of October, the highest in 26 years, as companies shed another 190,000 jobs. That surprised economists, who predicted a 9.9- per-cent rate. Unemployment was 9.8 per cent in September.

President Barack Obama called the numbers 'sobering' and said he was considering fresh public spending measures to halt the slide.

But investors appeared to remain optimistic that US economic recovery was underway. Stocks built on gains that have been made on a slew of positive economic data in the last few days.

Stocks were also buoyed by analyst upgrades of US companies General Electric and Macy's. However, the price of gold reached a record of more than 1,100 dollars per ounce as some traders retreated to safer investments.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 17.46 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 10,023.42. The broader Standard and Poor's 500 Index added 2.67 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 1,069.3. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 7.12 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 2,112.44.

For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 jumped 3.2 per cent, while the Nasdaq surged 3.29 per cent.

The US currency climbed against the euro at 67.37 euro cents from 67.24 euro cents on Thursday. The dollar fell against the Japanese currency to 89.95 yen from 90.75 yen.