Wall Street started the week with much fanfare, the New York Stock Exchange showing a marked increase in closing Monday. The stock market has primarily benefited from the publication of an indicator highlighting the resilience of consumption in the United States, while the financial consequences of Hurricane Irene could be scaled down.
At the final bell, the Dow Jones progressed and 2.26% at 11,539 points while the Nasdaq and Standard & Poor's 500 respectively go up showed an increase of 3.32% to 2562 points and 1210 points to 2.83%. Note particularly the crossing by the Standard & Poor's 500 threshold of 1200 points, something that had not been seen since last two weeks. The Nasdaq has still increased by 4.3% last week after a month of fall, and shows up its fifth session in six sessions. Its level has now reached the highest since Aug. 3.
Main factors of such a surge: investors seem reassured by the amount of the first estimates of the damage caused by Hurricane Irene, which has struck the United States. While some initial projections exceeded 10 billion, the company's risk management Eqecat has estimated for its damage to 5 or 7 billion. Also note that consumer spending of households in the United States rebounded in July, growth proving to be greater than expected (0.8%).
