US stocks finished stronger on Friday, climbing to their best levels of the year after the much-awaited July jobs report didn't disappoint and signaled a possible turnaround in the current recession.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 114 points to 9,370. The S&P500 Index added 13 to 1,010 and the NASDAQ rose 27 points to 2,000.
In economic news: The Labor Department's report showed the unemployment rate fell to 9.4% in July compared to 9.5% in June. Job losses in the month narrowed to 247,000, which was better than economists’ predictions of 325,000 jobs and a jobless rate rise to 9.6%.
In company news: American International Group (NYSE:AIG) shares added 20.46% to $27.14 after the US Government-rescued insurer reported a second-quarter net profit of $1.8 billion – its first profit since the third quarter of 2007.
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B) shares added 0.65% to $3,540 after second quarter income rose 14% to $3.3 billion from $2.88 billion a year ago. The result was Warren Buffett's insurance and Investment Company’s best quarterly performance in nearly two years.
CIT Group (NYSE:CIT) lost 9.26% to $1.47. Shares rose after hours when the company reported progress on its restructuring plans and said it had suspended payment of preferred dividends and completed a drawdown of its $3 billion secured credit facility.
Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) shares fell 11.9% to 74 cents but shares rose in after hours trade as the second largest provider of U.S. home mortgage funding posted its first quarterly profit in two years. Second-quarter net income came in at $768 million, compared with a $9.9 billion loss in the first quarter.
To the best and worst performers of the NASDAQ Top 100: The standout performer on Friday was Hansen Natural with a 17.63% gain to $36.09. While Liberty Media and Foster Wheeler also climbed higher. On the downside, Verisign lost the most ground and fell 9.24% to $18.66. While Activision Blizzard and Genzyme also lost ground.
