Following the Labor Day holiday on Monday, a poor manufacturing report sent stocks to a modest loss on Tuesday. The major indexes changed very little on Wednesday, a bit surprising considering that bellwether FedEx lowered its earnings forecast and more dire news came out of the Eurozone. On Thursday the Dow soared by 244 points when the European Central Bank announced it will buy government bonds to allow struggling countries to issue new debt. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ set 4-year and 11-year highs, respectively. Stocks finished the week on Friday slightly higher despite a rather bleak August jobs report.
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