Stocks had modest losses on Monday during a relatively light trading day marked by little economic news beyond the usual Eurozone debt fears. A very profitable month of January closed on Tuesday with another modest loss. Despite the minor setback, both the S&P 500 and Dow experienced their best January since 1997. On Wednesday, news of a 170,000 increase in private sector jobs propelled stocks upward to wipe out the two previous sessions’ losses. The major indexes were mixed on Thursday following a host of both positive and negative earnings reports. On Friday stocks rocketed upward on a report showing that the national unemployment rate dropped to 8.3% from 8.5%, the lowest rate since February 2009. The NASDAQ index finished at its highest level since December 2000, at the end of the great tech bubble.

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