Afternoon Markets: Dow climbs as jobs market stabilises

On Wall Street, markets were slightly up after a turbulent start to trading after some positive jobs data was released.

The Dow Jones climbed 8.16 points (0.09%) to 9,289.13. Latest job figures show new claims for unemployment benefit are down from 588,000 to 550,000, indicating the job market may begin to stabilise. Financials performed well, with American Express adding 4.6% to $31.77, while Bank of America shares climbed 2.34% to $17.05. Communications giants Verizon and AT&T saw their share prices fall 1.18% and 0.78% respectively. London markets continued to rise through the afternoon, with the FTSE 100 set to close at a new high for 2009. Late in the afternoon, the main London index had ...