"It's the economy, stupid..."

[ipscshooter]

The bulls were out in force today, as stocks jumped on a surprising retail-sales report and a big mining merger.

At 12 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 162 points, or 1.2%, to 13,740, hitting a new intra-day high in the process.

[bawanajim]

And the rest of the story........................[:'(]

A weaker U.S. dollar and robust growth abroad have supported U.S. exports of late, and that has helped to narrow the U.S. trade gap on an annual basis and boost domestic growth.
In the first five months of the year, the deficit stood at $295.5 billion, below $317.8 billion in the same period last year. In 2006, the trade gap hit a record $758.5 billion.
Also on Thursday, the Labor Department said the number of U.S. workers applying for jobless benefits fell 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 308,000 last week from an upwardly revised 320,000 the prior week.
Economists were expecting a more modest dip to 315,000. The four-week moving average, a more reliable gauge of employment conditions because it irons out weekly fluctuations, slipped to 317,750 from 319,250.
"These trade and jobless numbers are not out of line with what we have been seeing. The economy is growing, and it is growing modestly. We had a good month or so," said Robert Lutts, president and chief investment officer at Cabot Money Management in Salem, Massachusetts.

[bawanajim]

Great news.........................

Technology stocks were among the biggest gainers, as was the case Thursday. Fiscal first-quarter profits at Dell (DELL) topped Wall Street's estimates late Thursday and the company said it would cut 10% of its workforce during the next two years in a bid to lower costs. Dell advanced 39 cents to $27.30.

if your not in that 10 %

[bawanajim]

And Haliburton says the last five years have been berry berry good to me.

Halliburton Company -- HAL (NYSE)









Price:
$34.80
Change:
$0.38
%Change:
1.10%








Time Frame: 1dy5dy1mo3mo1yr5yr
Stocks

Quote
Profile
Charts
Insider trading
Price:
$34.82
Change:
$0.40
%Change:
1.16%


Open:
34.75
Volume:
13,725,881
Dividend:
0.09
High:
35.05
Yield:
1.03%
Shares Out:
914.1M





Low:
34.42
P/E Ratio:
15.41
Market Cap:
31.8B

[shepdogwv]

it is the economy........however I have to agree that the economy is not the stock market, nor is the economy the top 25% of wage earners either.

[Lanse couche couche]

Haliburton is always a safe investment bet since they have done well over the last decade or so under both Dem and Rep administrations.

[C. Davis]

ORIGINAL: Lanse couche couche

Haliburton is always a safe investment bet since they have done well over the last decade or so under both Dem and Rep administrations.

That is good because Haliburton employs a whole bunch of people.
Of course some numb-skulls believe Haliburton consist of only Cheney and a few of his buddies.

C. Davis

[Champlain Islander]

I had a good day and certainly much better than earlier in the week.

[shepdogwv]

I hear that..... I had been recuping some losses that I made on my initial stock purchase 3 years ago and this gets me back on track.

[BenGarrett]

It's too bad Bush doesn't leave office tomorrow and a Democrat take over. Because, with these figures, the economy would be fantastically booming. As it is now, however, these figures are going to drive us straight into a severe recession.