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Wall Street began the New Year on Friday with a sharp hike of more than 250 points in the Dow Jones, who for the first time in two months closed above 9,000 units after the market ignored a disappointing report on manufacturing .

The other indicators had an increase of more than 6% in the week.


According to preliminary calculations, the Dow industrial average rose 258.30 points, 2.94%, to 9034.69, ending the week with an increase of 6.1%. The last time the concerns of the elite Wall Street stocks closed above the 9,000 points was on Nov. 5, when it stood at 9139.27.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM, for its acronym in Spanish) reported that its index of manufacturing activity fell in December to its lowest level in 28 years.


However, the market has clung to its recent pattern of no case to make much economic bad news, a trend that began to emerge after it reached extremely low levels on Nov. 20. When making purchases or sales, investors are trying to prevent what will happen later, even up to nine months later.

"During the last month we've begun to see some change in mood, and this is certainly a step in that direction," said Carl Beck, a partner of Harris Financial Group in Richmond, Virginia.


The data on the economy have been terrible for months, and investors have shown little surprise despite the fact that some figures were well below expectations, as fairly pessimistic.

During past recessions, the market has recovered earlier than the economy, to ignore the negative statistics and looking for signs that the crisis worsens.


The ISM, a group of purchasing executives, reported Friday that its index of manufacturing fell to 32.4 units in December, compared to 36.2 in November. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting a reading of 35.5 units. A figure below 50 points indicates that there is contraction in the sector.

The last session of the week and first of 2009 after a terrible years for investors. The Dow fell 33.8% in 2008, its worst performance since 1931.


But on Friday, the market's broader indicators also advanced for a third session in a row. The index of 500 shares of Standard & Poor's rose 28.55 points, 3.16%, to 931.80, its best close since Nov. 5, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 55.18 units, 3.50%, to 1632.21.

During the week, the S & P 500 rose 6.8%, and the Nasdaq improved 6.7%.


The Russell 2000 index, which measures the performance of smaller companies quoted on the stock exchange, had a rise of 6.37 points, 1.28%, to 505.82.

The shares rose by approximately exceeded those that fell to 5-1 on the Stock Exchange of New York, where trading volume was light, 1,040 million shares.


Bond prices fell after investors decided to run more risks. The yield on the Treasury's role in 10 years, which moves in the opposite direction to price, rose to 2.40%, 2.22% observed in respect of the closure on Wednesday.

The dollar had a mixed against other major currencies in the world. Gold fell.


The light crude low sulfur content rose 1.74 dollars to 46.34 dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other international markets, the year also had an upward beginning. The British FTSE 100 rose 2.88%, the German DAX jumped 3.39% and the French CAC-40 rose 4.09%. Markets in Japan remained closed for a holiday.