Stock Market News for December 2, 2010

U.S. stocks kicked off December on a solid note, with major averages climbing at least 2%, as a batch of upbeat economic data from the United States and China helped investors set aside eurozone contagion worries. The rally was led by material and energy shares.
 
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped almost 250 points, or 2.3%, closing the day at 11255.85. The gains, biggest since early September, came on reports that private sector employers continued to add jobs in November. A big revision to October’s private sector payroll numbers and reports of improved economic activity in 10 of the 12 Fed regions boosted investors’ belief that the economy is beginning to strengthen.
 
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index advanced 25.52 points, or 2.2%, to 1206.07. The technology-laden Nasdaq Composite index jumped 51.20 points, or 2.1%, to 2549.43. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing shares outpaced those that fell in price by a four-to-one margin on volume of 1.1 billion shares.
 
As investors embraced riskier bets, safe-haven Treasurys dropped in price. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note jumped to 2.97% from 2.80% late Tuesday. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet indicated that the ECB would start purchasing sovereign debt bonds
 
All 30 Dow components closed the session in the green. Gains on the blue-chip average were led by Home Depot (NYSE:HD - Analyst Report), United Technologies (NYSE:UTX - Analyst Report), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Analyst Report) and Alcoa (NYSE:AA - Analyst Report). Home Depot rose 4.6% and was the leading gainer on the Dow. Shares in United Technologies gained 4% and Alcoa advanced 3.4%.
 
Also, all ten S&P500 industry sectors recorded gains, led by oil and gas (+2.8%), basic materials (+2.8%), industrials (+2.6%), tech (+2.3%), financials (+2.1%), consumer goods (+1.8%), health care (+1.8%), consumer services (+1.8%), telecommunications (+1.5%) and utilities (+1.2%).

Meanwhile, economists at Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS - Analyst Report), while noting that US economic prospects have "brightened significantly in recent weeks," raised their 2011 growth estimate to 2.7% from 2.0%. The economists were also of the view that the unemployment rate would show a "meaningful drop" to 8.5% by the end of 2012 from 9.6% now.

Shares in Google (NASDAQ:GOOG - Analyst Report) recouped some of yesterday’s losses, rising 1.6%, after Oppenheimer rated the shares "buy." Motorola (NYSE:MOT) shares surged 4.5% after its board approved a 1-for-7 stock split in the shares.

Read the full analyst report on HD

Read the full analyst report on UTX

Read the full analyst report on MSFT

Read the full analyst report on AA

Read the full analyst report on GS

Read the full analyst report on GOOG