Stocks Rise After Bernanke’s Comments
September 15, 2009 by Stephen Kersey
Filed under Business
Stocks were up on Tuesday after good news from manufacturing industries, retail sales and Ben Bernanke. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve Chairman, said that the recession has “very likely over”.
The Dow Jones industrial average finished the day at 9,683.41 after rising 0.6%. That’s the highest the Dow has been since October of 2008.
The Russell 2000 jumped 0.8% to 604.84, while the Nasdaq composite index ended the day at 2,102.64 after rising 0.5%. The Standard & Poor’s index was up 0.3% to finish at 1,052.63.
While Bernanke said the recession was technically over, he did mention that unemployment remains a problem.
“It’s still going to feel like a very weak economy for some time,” explained Bernanke, “because many people will still find that their job security and their employment status is not what they wish it was.”
It’ll be interesting to see if investors remain confident if employment numbers don’t start improving soon. If they don’t, experts believe that the stock market could level out for a period of time.
Ben Bernanke says the recession is over (Image: Flickr)
