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Dow Closes Over 8,000, Logs 4th Week Of Gains

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NEW YORK (AP) Not even grisly job losses could get in the stock market's way Friday.

The Dow Jones industrial average clawed higher to end above 8,000 for the first time in nearly two months, and logged an impressive fourth straight week of gains.

The last time the Dow rose for four consecutive weeks was between September and October of 2007 when the index reached its all-time high above 14,000.

The Labor Department's March unemployment report was a big hurdle for the market. The numbers were certainly grim, but not terrible enough to derail an emerging sense of optimism over the past four months that the economy may be beginning to right itself.

Tom Phillips, president of TS Phillips Investments in Oklahoma City, said the improved tone is helping traders react more moderately to bad news than they might have even a month ago.

"If the expectation was for truly horrendous numbers and they're only ugly, that's a good thing," he said.

Employers slashed a net total of 663,000 jobs last month, only slightly worse than the 654,000 economists expected. The employment rate jumped to 8.5 percent, its highest level since late 1983, when the economy was starting to emerge from a deep recession.

The economy has shed a total of 5.1 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. Nearly two-thirds of the losses have come in the last five months.

While many investors are looking ahead to an eventual recovery, others say Wall Street might be just as short-sighted now as it was when it was panicking. Potential pitfalls lie ahead not just for the job market, but also in corporate earnings reports and outlooks that start pouring in next week.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow climbed 39.51, or 0.5 percent, to 8,017.59. That is the index's highest close since Feb. 9, when the index ended at 8,270.87. A month later, the index sank to a nearly 12-year low of 6,547.05, but it's now 22.5 percent above that trough.

The rally that began in March has been the Dow's biggest four-week advance since 1933.

On Friday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.12, or 1 percent, to 842.50. The Nasdaq composite index rose 19.24, or 1.2 percent, at 1,621.87, helped by BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd., whose shares surged on better-than-expected profits.

About two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.5 billion shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 5.94, or 1.3 percent, to 456.13.

Government bond prices fell as investors entered riskier assets. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.90 percent from 2.76 percent late Thursday. The yield on the three-month T-bill rose to 0.21 percent from 0.20 percent.

The monthly employment report is often regarded as the most important piece of economic news affecting the market. There is even greater focus on jobs data now that the U.S. recession has stretched into the longest downturn since World War II.

Even as the numbers weren't as bad as some analysts feared, investors will need to see further signs that the recession isn't getting worse to keep the rally going. Analysts said the labor market is unlikely to provide much encouragement anytime soon.

The market could still recover even if unemployment remains high. Wall Street will just want signs that prospects for the labor market aren't getting far worse. In downturns during the past 60 years, the S&P 500 index has hit bottom an average of four months before a recession ended and about nine months before unemployment hit its peak.

Traders have been emboldened in recent weeks by better-than-expected readings on key economic factors like housing, banking and manufacturing.

Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading LLC, said investors are being too quick to overlook the holes in the economy like employment. He noted that January's job losses were revised much higher, to 741,000 from 655,000.

"We've run way too high here, way too fast," he said. "No matter how you want to spin it there are a ton of people unemployed and the rate is still going higher."

Another looming threat to the market's four-week buying spree is the start of the first quarter earnings season, which gets under way Tuesday with a report from Dow component Alcoa Inc. Expectations for corporate earnings are already low but any hints that things could get worse could easily kill the rally.

In a positive sign, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech Friday in Charlotte, N.C., that while he was uncomfortable with bailing out financial institutions, the Fed's strategy so far to ease the financial crisis appears to be working.

Kim Caughey, equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group, said it's reassuring that Bernanke is implying that there no more big financial rescue plans in the offing.

"The bazooka might be put away," she said, "or at least be leaning in the corner for a while."

European and Asian markets were mixed following a powerful global stock rally the day before after world leaders pledged $1 trillion for financial rescue measures and promised stronger regulation of financial institutions.