Shares in International Consolidated Airlines Group SA rose 2.41 percent and ARM Holding added 1.98 percent.
Mining firms saw their share prices fall as metals prices eased. Randgold Resources dropped 1.79 percent, and Antofagasta slipped 1.58 percent.
As Wall Street starts to improve and economy stabilizes, Americans still pessimistic about future ;
I wish someone could explain the stock market and the economy to me, because I think I am missing something.
The day after Obama was inaugurated, the S&P 500 closed at 805.22. Last Friday, it closed at 1337.38, a gain of 66.1%. This is the best rally ever at the start of a presidential term.
Yet, if you listen to the commentators and read the polls, you would think the reverse has happened. Much of the financial community has a virulent dislike for Obama and his "Big Government" policies. They long for the so-called unbridled capitalism they had under George W. Bush - when the S&P declined 40.1%.
Now let me understand this: Wall Street hates the President who has given it a 66% rise, but loves the President who presided over the second-worst stock market performance in modern times.
I must be missing something.
Meanwhile, the polls show that Americans are becoming increasingly pessimistic about the economy. When Obama took office, the stock market was plunging, unemployment was soaring and we were still teetering on the brink of financial collapse.
Now, the economy has stabilized. Jobs are starting to grow and the economy is at least stable. This Misery Index, which measures unemployment plus inflation, continues near peak readings of the past 30 years.
With a soaring stock market and a solid economy, you would think people would be less miserable, but the reverse is happening. I must be missing something.
This leads to three questions: Why is the stock market going up? Why are people unhappy? And what happens next?
Wall Street is buoyant because earnings are strong, companies are flush with cash and interest rates are low. Investing in solid companies, often with good dividends, is far preferable to buying bonds or money funds with minuscule returns. The VIX - the Chicago Board Options Exchange's volatility index of certain stocks - continues to drop, meaning investors are happy and complacent.
Main Street, however, is pessimistic because people have come to the realization that there is no magic bullet for our problems. Housing prices have remained low, and should remain so. Unemployment has remained stubbornly high, in part because corporations are hanging on to their cash. The deficit keeps hitting new highs. People are finally beginning to understand all the alternatives will be painful.
People hate to pay taxes. Yet there is a growing realization that taxes will increase and deductions will decrease. People love entitlements, like Medicare. But the reality is we cannot continue to support a program in which people pay an average of $150,000 in a lifetime and receive $450,000 in benefits. There are two choices: painful cutbacks or burdening our grandchildren with mountains of debt.
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