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Image: liquoredonlife

Some encouraging reads on the U.S. labor market.
First, the scoreboard:
Dow: 12,157.7, +49.2, +0.4%
S&P 500: 1,252.7, +9.4, +0.7%
NASDAQ: 2,597.9, +19.7, +0.7%
And now, the top stories:
  • Europe was pretty quiet today.
  • The U.S., on the other hand, saw a healthy market rally fueled by some good economic data.  First, initial jobless claims fell to 364k, the lowest reading since April 2008.  This is down from last week's reading of 368k, and it was also much better than economists' average expectation for 380k. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index jumped to 69.9, beating the expectation for 68.0.
  • However, the final reading on Q3 GDP was revised down to 1.8% from 2.0%.  The new figure was marked by a steep downward revision to personal consumption expenditures.  If you remember, Q3 GDP growth had already been revised down to 2.0% from 2.5%.  But Q3 was so three months ago.  And the November leading economic indicators increased 0.5%, beating the estimate of 0.3%.  So, over all, the economic picture was rosy.
  • U.S. financials led the rally.  Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America all posted huge gains.  Goldman Sachs posted more modest gains.  Late in the trading day, a bizarre headline crossed everyone's Bloomberg terminals that said Goldman Sachs' credit rating had been cut to A+.  This caused the stock to dip briefly.  But the news didn't make any sense because Goldman had already been slashed to A- back in November.  Anyways, S&P came out and corrected the discrepancy.  This is just the latest in a string of credit rating announcement errors made by the agency.
  • There were a couple of notable losers in the stock markets today.  Mead Johnson Nutrition dived after Wal-Mart pulled the company's baby formula after a baby reportedly died.  Also, Bed Bath And Beyond shares dived following yesterday's better-than-expected earnings announcement, that may have missed the "whisper" estimate.
  • Also, Fox News reported that Congress is close to a payroll tax cut deal.