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Saturday, December 6, 2008

U.S. Stocks Jump as Hartford Surges on Boosted Profit Forecast

U.S. stocks jumped, reversing an early slide, as Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. led a rally in insurers after increasing its profit forecast and saying it’s weathering the credit crisis.

Hartford, which tumbled 92 percent in 2008 before today, doubled and all 21 insurance companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced. Prudential Financial Inc. and MetLife Inc. climbed at least 22 percent as UBS AG said they may benefit from potential regulatory changes. The gains helped the market overcome a morning tumble spurred by government data showing the nation lost the most jobs in 34 years last month as the recession deepened.

“The bad news is out; people know the economy’s lousy,” said Barry James, president of James Investment Research in Xenia, Ohio, which oversees $2 billion. “The market is so oversold that we’re entering into what I’d call a bear-market rally.”

The S&P 500 rose 3.7 percent to 876.07 after retreating 3.2 percent earlier. All 10 industry groups advanced as the benchmark index for U.S. stocks pared losses in its fourth weekly retreat since October. The Russell 2000 Index of small U.S. companies climbed 4.9 percent to 461.09. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 259.18 points, or 3.1 percent, to 8,635.42.

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Economic Event Calendar

GMT+5:30 Event Vol. Actual Consensus Previous
Friday, Jun 27
18:00 Personal Consumption Expenditures - Price Index (YoY) 2 2.3% 2.3% 2.2% Revised from 2.1%
18:00 Personal Income (MoM) 2 -0.4% 0.3% 0.7% Revised from 0.8%
18:00 Core Personal Consumption Expenditures - Price Index (MoM) 3 0.2% 0.1% 0.1%
18:00 Personal Consumption Expenditures - Price Index (MoM) 2 0.1% 0.1% 0.1%
18:00 Personal Spending 2 -0.1% 0.1% 0.2%
18:45 Fed's Hammack speech 2
18:45 Fed's Cook speech 2
19:30 UoM 5-year Consumer Inflation Expectation 2 4.1% 4.1%
19:30 Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index 2 60.5 60.5
19:30 UoM 1-year Consumer Inflation Expectations 2 5.1% 5.1%
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