Both stocks and exchanged traded funds (ETFs) edged higher this morning on light pre-holiday trading. Traders were encouraged by positive reports on consumer spending, home sales and weekly jobless claims.
Wall Street reacted positively to the fact that initial jobless claims fell to a 14-month low. First-time filers for unemployment fell to 466,000 – the lowest number since the week ended Sept. 13, 2008, reported Julianne Pepitone for CNNMoney. This is the fourth consecutive week of declines in initial jobless claims. Continuing claims also fell 190,000 from the prior week.
The real estate market got a boost in October: new home sales rose 6.2%, once again thanks to the tax credit for first-time homebuyers. The median home price also dropped in October, by 0.5% to $212,200, reports Jeff Bater for The Wall Street Journal. Rates on 30-year mortgages also sank to an average of 4.78% this week, equaling a record low. Last year at this time, rates averaged 5.97%, reports the Associated Press.
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction (NYSEArca: ITB) is up about 0.8% this morning.
In another encouraging sign for the budding economic recovery, the Commerce Department reported today that consumer spending in October rose by a strong 0.7%. Incomes also rose last month by a modest 0.2%. Jeannine Aversa reports for the Associated Press that the rebound in spending shows that consumers – who are responsible for more than 70% of national economic activity – are managing to hold for now under difficult economic circumstances.
Retailers are, of course, hoping that consumers will continue spending and that upcoming Black Friday sales are strong. Ahead of Black Friday, the Retailer HOLDRs (NYSE: RTH) is up nearly 1% today, while the broader-based SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSE: XRT) is up nearly 2% today. (For more stories on sector ETFs, please see our sector ETFs category).
One retailer already doing relatively well is the world’s second largest luxury-jewelry retailer, Tiffany’s (NYSE: TIF). Cotten Timberlake of Bloomberg reported that the company’s third-quarter profit topped analyst estimates. Tiffany also boosted its full-year forecast on the back of strong revenue growth in Asia and Europe, which boosted Tiffany’s shares by more than 4% today. (For more stories on retailers, please see our retail category). The Claymore/Robb Report Global Luxury (NYSEArca: ROB) is up 2.2% this morning; Tiffany is 2.8%.
Tony D’Altorio contributed to this article.