Dow Up 17 as Jobs Stats Stall Stocks

It's Dow's best finish since 2008

(NEWSER) - Today's rosy jobs report did wonders for the markets. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, in fact, closed at an 11-year high, reports MarketWatch , while the Dow finished at its highest level since May 2008, notes the Wall Street Journal . The numbers:

• Dow: Up 157, 1.2%, to 12,862
• Nasdaq: Up 46, 1.6%, to 2,906
• S&P 500: Up 19, 1.5%, to 1,345

243K jobs were added in January: jobs report

(NEWSER) - The unemployment rate had been expected to hold steady at 8.5%, with just 125,000 jobs added—instead, unemployment fell to 8.3% and 243,000 jobs were added last month, according to January's better-than-expected jobs report. The report has Wall Street Journal bloggers particularly effusive: "America's back, baby. America's back." Stock futures are also up on the news, the Journal notes. More»

200K jobs added in December: jobs report

(NEWSER) - A better-than-expected jobs report shows that 2011 ended with a bang: The unemployment rate fell to 8.5% last month, the lowest since February 2009, and 200,000 new jobs were added, the Wall Street Journal reports. The jobs report was expected to be solid, but not this solid: Unemployment had been expected to rise from 8.6% to 8.7%, and 150,000 new jobs were forecasted, according to the AP . More good news: October's jobs were revised upward by 12,000, but November's were revised downward by around 2,000. More»

Nation hiring as rest of eurozone firing

(NEWSER) - While much of the rest of the eurozone struggles with soaring unemployment, Germany's unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since it reunified more than 20 years ago. The rate fell to 6.8% in December, helped by strong exports to China and unseasonably warm weather, which allowed construction companies to keep working, the BBC reports. More»

Jobless apparently using fund as a last resort

(NEWSER) - The ranks of Americans collecting Social Security Disability Insurance payments have swelled dramatically in recent years, and that may be because more people are turning to the program when they can’t find work, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some 10.6 million Americans are now on the program, compared to 7.2 million in 2002. And one recent study shows that the jobless are much more likely to enter the program after they’ve used up their unemployment benefits. More»