Stocks sprung back on some good news from the economic front – better than expected employment figures coupled with some signs of consumer resilience have caused the market participants to come back in strides. The Labor Department reported today that applications for unemployment benefits totaled 357,000 last week, some 18,000 fewer than the previous week, reaching the lowest level since mid-April. This news, coupled with the higher-than-expected May sales that were reported by some retailers, gave Wall Street a much needed boost. While the retailers that have reported better sales gains are the ones who discount the most (WalMart and Costco), the job data does support that consumers are stronger than expected and that the U.S. consumer will likely keep spending as long as he or she is employed.

The better-than-expected initial jobless claims report came on the heels of yesterday’s positive news on the job creation front. ADP reported yesterday that U.S. companies added 40,000 jobs in May, as compared with 13,000 job increases in April and the expected decrease.Read more...