Daily Report

On Thursday the Dow Jones Index of shares climbed 0.5 percent and the Standard & Poor’s Index rose 0.2 percent. The Treasury Department said yesterday that the U.S. federal government ran $65 billion into the red in November, up 14 percent from the same period last year when the deficit was only $57 billion. Economists had expected a $68 billion deficit for November. The current fiscal year-to-date deficit stood at $201 billion. Furthermore data showed yesterday that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased to a five-month high last week, but this likely does not signal a deterioration in the labor market as the underlying trend remained consistent with tithening conditions.