Dow up 72 as better jobs picture boosts stocks

Updated: 7:39 p.m. ET

Stocks enjoyed a solid rally today, the first of the week, as U.S. jobless claims showed a surprisingly large decline and investors cheered Spain's budgetary plans.

While jobless claims fell, the Labor Department also reported that job gains for the year ended in March were larger than thought. But the government also reported a decline in durable-goods orders that was made worse by a big decline in commercial aircraft orders. In addition, a new measure of second-quarter growth showed the big 2012 drought was already weighing on the economy.

Homebuilding, energy and technology stocks were among the market leaders today, a day after all had pulled back. Gold (-GC) and crude oil (-CL) moved higher in part because of worries about an Iranian-Israeli war and as the dollar fell against the euro and the British pound. Energy stocks were higher.

After the close, Research In Motion (RIMM) shares jumped $1.56, or nearly 22%, to $8.70 after reporting one-time charges of 27 cents a share. Wall Street was looking for 19 cents. Revenue was $2.9 billion, up 2% from a year ago. Nike (NKE) shares were off $2.09 to $93.91 after hours. The company reported a 12% profit decline, although revenue was up 10% to $6.67 billion. Worldwide future orders were up 6% from a year ago, but Nike's gross profit margin fell to 43.5% from 44.3% a year ago.

The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) closed up 72 points to 13,486; the blue chips had been up as many as 109 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) gained 14 points to 1,447, and the Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) gained 43 points to 3,137. The Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX) had risen 40 points to 2,822.

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Apple (AAPL), the biggest influence on the Nasdaq-100, climbed $16.14 to $681.32, gaining back all it had lost on Wednesday. Amazon.com (AMZN) gained $6.92 to $256.59, and Google (GOOG) was up $3.04 to $756.50.

Today's gains left the major averages poised to finish September with decent gains, although the market looks to end the week lower.

The gains for the Dow and S&P 500 were their largest since Sept. 13. The Nasdaq's gain was its largest since Sept. 6.

The Dow heads into Friday, the last trading day of the month, up 3.1% for September. The S&P 500 is up 2.9%, while the Nasdaq is up 2.3%.

If the Dow ends September with a gain, it will be the 11th for the blue chips in the last 12 months, something not seen since March 1958 through February 1959.

Personal income, Chicago PMI, Michigan consumer confidence reports due
Friday offers a full plate of economic reports, including reports on personal income and spending, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index.

Earnings are due from American Greetings (AM) and pharmacy retailer Walgreen (WAG).

American Greetings shares were up 34 cents to $17.01 after an investment group led by CEO Zev Weiss and his family on Wednesday offered $17.18 a share for the company, a 20% premium over Tuesday's close.

Futures trading suggests a modestly higher open for stocks on Friday.

Natanyahu speech boosts gold, energy prices
Precious metals and energy prices were higher today, in part because of the United Nations speech of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu., who said Iran could have enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon by next summer.

The possibility of Iran’s possession of a nuclear weapon was a threat not only to Israel but to the entire world, Netanyahu said, and added that the failure to establish "red lines" for Tehran could lead to war. Netanyahu has been arguing for months that Iran must be stopped.

Thanks to his speech, gold settled up $26.90 to $1,780.50 an ounce.

Crude oil in New York settled up $1.87 to $91.85 a barrel, and futures of heating oil, natural gas and wholesale gasoline jumped as well. Brent crude, the benchmark North Sea oil that tends to move global oil prices, was up $2.19 to $112.36 a barrel.

The national average retail price of gasoline was down a penny to $3.795 a gallon, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Energy prices -- New York close
			Thur.			Wed.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Crude oil (-CL)			$91.85			$89.98			-4.79%			-7.06%
(per barrel)
Heating oil (-HO)			$3.1508			$3.1025			-0.92%			8.12%
(per gallon)
Natural gas (-NG)			$3.2970			$3.2150			17.79%			10.30%
(per mil. BTU)
Unleaded gasoline (-RB)			$2.8972			$2.8738			-2.54%			9.02%
(per gallon)
Brent crude			$112.01			$110.04			-2.23%			4.31%
(per barrel)
Retail gasoline			$3.7950			$3.8050			-0.89%			15.84%
(per gallon; AAA)

More spending cuts for Spain
The Spanish government proposed significant spending cuts that would trim budgets for each of its ministries by an average 8.9%. The overall effect would be to trim Spain's budget deficit to 4.5% of gross domestic product, down from 9% in 2011, The Wall Street Journal said.

Not only would the central government's spending be controlled, the government is proposing to control provincial spending more tightly as well. The moves would be made so Spain can apply for and win a financial bailout from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The budget announcement came after several days of protests that were often violent. While bond investors were cheered, it's not clear the Spanish people are. The country already has Europe's highest unemployment rate, and it will probably go higher.

Tempur-Pedic will buy Sealy
The day featured a deal: Tempur-Pedic International (TPX) has agreed to acquire mattress company Sealy (ZZ) in a deal valued at $229 million. Sealy shareholders will receive $2.20 a share, a premium of 2.8% to Wednesday's close. Including debt assumption, the deal is valued at about $1.3 billion.

Wall Street likes the move. Tempur-Pedic was up $3.86 to $30.64. Sealy added 5 cents to $2.19.

A bias to the upside
Twenty-four of the 30 Dow stocks were higher, led by General Electric (GE), Intel (INTC) and Bank of America (BAC). Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and AT&T (T) were the laggards.

Meanwhile, 408 S&P 500 stocks were higher. First Solar (FSLR), Discover Financial Services (DFS) and MetroPCS Communications (PCS) were the leaders. Printer R.R. Donnelly (RRD) and spice-maker McCormick & Co. (MKC) were the laggards.

Ninety Nasdaq-100 stocks were higher, led by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) and Avago Technologies (AVGO). Game-maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI) and Costco Wholesale (COST) were the laggards.

Jobless claims falls; drought hits GDP
The jobless-claims report was the day's cheery news. Claims fell 26,000 to a seasonally adjusted 359,000, the lowest level since mid-July. The four-week moving average dropped to 374,000 from 378,500. The moving average smooths out week-to-week changes.

At the same time, the Labor Department now reckons the American economy created 386,000 more jobs -- or 0.3% -- in the 12 months to March than previously thought. White House economic adviser Alan Krueger said the revision indicated that the United States had added nearly 5.1 million private-sector jobs, on a net basis, over the past 30 months.

The new estimate is something the Labor Department does annually. The revision has averaged 0.3% since 2000, according to the Liscio Report, which tracks government spending patterns.

Meanwhile, the final read on second-quarter gross domestic product showed growth of 1.3%, weaker than an expected 1.7%. Analysts said the impact of the drought was the biggest factor in the downward revision.

At the same time, August durable-goods orders tumbled 13.2%, much more than the 5% drop expected. A decline in orders at Boeing (BA) were the big driver for the decline, but other sectors showed weakness as well.

Short hits from the markets -- New York close
			Thur.			Wed.			Month chg.			YTD chg.
Treasury yields
13-week Treasury bill			0.0900%			0.100%			0.00%			800.00%
5-year Treasury note			0.638%			0.612%			7.05%			-23.13%
10-year Treasury note			1.640%			1.618%			4.99%			-12.35%
30-year Treasury bond			3.032%			3.032%			12.97%			4.95%
Currencies
U.S. Dollar Index			79.592			79.948			-2.00%			-1.15%
British pound			1.6239			1.6176			2.21%			4.51%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in pounds			£0.616			£0.618			-2.16%			-4.32%
Euro in dollars			$1.29			$1.29			2.54%			-0.31%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. $ in euros			€ 0.774			€ 0.777			-2.48%			0.31%
U.S. $ in yen			77.76			77.74			-0.93%			0.86%
U.S. $ in Chinese			6.32			6.30			-0.63%			-0.03%
yuan
Canada dollar			$1.020			$1.016			0.57%			3.98%
(in U.S. $)
U.S. dollar			$0.981			$0.984			-0.57%			-3.83%
(in Canadian $)
Commodities
Gold (-GC)			$1,780.50			$1,753.60			5.50%			13.64%
(per troy ounce)
Copper (-HG)			$3.744			$3.710			8.30%			8.96%
(per pound)
Silver (-SI)			$34.6660			$33.9400			10.25%			24.18%
(per troy ounce)
Wheat (-ZW)			$8.5550			$8.6925			-3.82%			31.06%
(per bushel)
Corn (-ZC)			$7.1625			$7.248			-10.44%			10.79%
(per bushel)
Cotton			$0.7153			0.7102			-7.42%			-21.98%
(per pound)
Coffee			$1.7430			1.6945			5.80%			-24.10%
(per pound)
Crude oil (-CL)			$91.85			$89.98			-4.79%			-7.06%
(per barrel)