Stocks at 8-month highs

[sabra]

Source: CNN Money

Wall Street charges ahead as continuing jobless claims dip, profit reports provide encouragement. Dow tops 9,200 for first time since November.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks rallied Thursday to their highest levels in at least 8 months, as investors eyed the latest batch of better-than-expected profit reports or forecasts and a report that suggested the labor market is starting to stabilize.

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After the early week volatility, stocks charged ahead Thursday.

"The market is finally getting its arms around the fact that we are close to being out of this recession," said Burt White, chief investment officer at LPL Financial.

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Labor market: The number of Americans filing unemployment claims for a week or more, a measure known as continuing claims, slipped by more than expected last week.

According to a Labor Department report, continuing claims dipped to 6.2 million, from 6.23 million the previous week. That was the lowest level since mid-April and short of forecasts for a rise to 6.3 million.

The continuing claims report overshadowed the regular weekly jobless claims report, which showed a bigger-than-expected rise to 584,000. However, that rise was largely related to seasonal issues related to auto plant shutdowns.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/30/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?postversion=2009073011

[KansDem]

1. Let's see...let's see... What happened eight months ago?

That would be...November. Hmmmm, what happened during that month? Hmmmmmm...