US stocks climbed on Thursday, marking their third straight day in the black as a bigger-than-expected drop in weekly jobless claims and improved same-store sales from a number of retailers lifted McDonald's, American Express and Coca-Cola.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 120.71 points (1.20%) to 10,138.99. The measure has risen 4.67% over the past three days, marking its best three-day performance since the three-day period ended May 12.
Employment soared in June as 45,900 jobs were added to the labour force, ramping up pressure on the RBA to resume policy tightening despite the continued presence of economic concerns in other parts of the globe.
With strength evident throughout the work force, partly helped by a surging commodities boom, the air tight labour market is raising the spectre of full employment in the near term. Overall, 327,300 jobs have been created since August 2009, despite the impact of six interest rate hikes from the RBA over that time frame.
US stocks rallied broadly on Wednesday in the third-biggest one-day gain of the year, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average back above the key 10,000 level. Financial stocks, including JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, led the climb, boosted by a rosy earnings forecast from State Street and as details on euro-zone bank stress tests removed some uncertainty.
The Dow climbed 274.66 points (2.82%) to 10,018.28, its biggest one-day gain since May 27 and highest close since June 28. The measure is now up 2.5% for the month but still down 3.93% for the year.
US stocks closed higher on Tuesday, with Microsoft, Alcoa and Bank of America among the gainers, although continued concerns about global growth sapped some of the market's earlier gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 57.14 points (0.59%) to 9,743.62, snapping a seven-session losing streak. However, the measure lost much of its morning gains; it had been up more than 170 points earlier in the session.
Interest rates were left unchanged but the central bank removed some of the speculation from the market that policy will be tightened in the near-term, warning of an uneven global recovery and signs of a slowdown locally.
Still, the Reserve Bank of Australia left the door open for more hikes. The cash rate target was left unchanged for a second month in a row at 4.50%, with RBA Governor Glenn Stevens describing the rates as "appropriate".
Australia posted its biggest monthly trade surplus since March 2009 in May, confirming a massive turnaround in the trade account on the back of surging coal and iron ore prices.
The seasonally adjusted balance on trade in goods and services widened to a surplus of $1.65bn in May from a surplus of $1.12bn in April, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. Imports rose 4% in May with exports surging 6%.
The ABS also revised higher its April trade surplus to $1.12b, up by almost $1bn from its original estimate.
European shares ended slightly lower on Monday after struggling for direction amid lingering worries about growth and with US markets closed for a holiday, although oil giant BP managed to gain ground.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.2% to close at 236.88, after dipping in and out of positive territory through the session in a similar performance to Friday's session.
The index lost 4.5% last week after data fuelled worries about global economic growth.
Miners fell on Monday, with Rio Tinto shares down 1.8% and Antofagasta shares off 2.1%.
The total number of job advertisements in Australian newspapers and on the Internet rose 2.7% in seasonally adjusted terms in June from May to an average of 169,690 ads per week, contributing to a 32.2% annual increase, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, which compiles the data from major newspapers.
US stocks fell on Friday, with General Electric, Caterpillar and 3M among the decliners following disappointing reports on US employment and factory orders.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 46.05 points (0.47%) to 9,686.48, its lowest close since Oct. 5, 2009. Friday marked the Dow's seventh-straight session in the red, its longest losing streak since an eight-day run that ended in October 2008.
US stocks fell on Thursday, with Bank of America, General Electric and Intel among the decliners, as disappointing data on the US housing and job markets sparked concerns over the pace of the economic recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 41.49 points (0.42%) to 9,732.53, its lowest close since Oct. 30, 2009. Thursday marked the measure's sixth-straight daily drop; it hasn't had such a long losing streak since January.