Dow Jones Industrial Average

Dow Jones Industrial Average

Following a drop of 512 points Thursday, the biggest single-day Dow Jones Industrial Average decline since the dire economic conditions of 2008, Wall Street opened significantly higher Friday morning.

The reason for the spike was reported to be a better-than-expected employment report announced Friday morning.

The fact that American employers added about 117,000 jobs last month, bringing the unemployment rate down one-tenth of a point to 9.1 percent, could not keep the stock market rally going, though.

Experts say at least 250,000 jobs must be added each month to significantly put a dent in such high unemployment numbers, with all but two months since the nominal end of the recession in June 2009 reportedly experiencing levels above 9 percent.

The state and, even more dramatically, Palo Pinto County, continue to show unemployment levels lower than the national average.

Texas Workforce Commission reports show June’s unemployment rate for Texas to be 8.8 percent while Palo Pinto County, with a rate of 8.2 percent, beat the June national average by a full percentage point.

Following about 30 minutes of improved trading, Wall Street once again gave way to a series of gains and losses.

Before noon Friday, the Dow was down another 141 points with the S&P and Nasdaq composite both down about 1.5 percent.

As of the the market’s close Friday, though, the Dow had made up its losses, posting a modest 61 point gain over Thursday.

The S&P and Nasdaq both closed slightly lower.

According to Bill Berry CPA of Berry & Associates in Mineral Wells, the recent fluctuations, primarily downward, of the stock market can create fear in some planning for their future.

“I can tell you that people are worried about their retirement,” he said.

Retirement accounts are often tied directly to the stock market, which Berry said provides a reason for some at or near retirement age to follow its movement closely.

In the short term, he said he doesn’t see the market’s struggle causing any major problems to the local economy, though.

“I don’t know if it’s going to have any real effect on what people spend unless [the stock market’s slide] just keeps on going,” he said, adding one possible exception.

“If they are retired people and they’ve got money in stocks, it will affect what they spend,” he noted.

When asked if this week’s events might signal another dip in the economy, such as the situation during 2008’s market collapse, Berry said, “It’s hard to tell.”

“Some people are saying that we might be looking at another recession, and that’s possible,” he said, though it will take more than a struggling stock market, primarily the loss of further jobs, to cause such a reaction.

Uncertainty about the nation’s debt and the involvement of a great deal of foreign money within the American economy “scares the market,” he said.