THE WEEK IN STOCKS: Stocks immune from slowing economy

Three straight weeks of gains. The best month for the Standard & Poor's 500 index in more than three years. The fourth straight monthly decline in jobs. Is Wall Street connecting the dots or disconnected from reality?

The Dow Jones industrial average stands at its high for the year despite a recent litany of bad news for the economy.

Friday's report showing that employers cut 20,000 jobs in April was the latest sign of a slowing economy, but it could barely temper the recent enthusiasm for U.S. stocks.

"People are willing to accept the fact that we may have a very slow, stagnant economy, but the prospect of a sharp downturn seems to be less and less likely, hence the sigh of relief," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, N.J.

In April, the S&P 500 index rose 4.8 percent, its best monthly performance since November 2003.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq composite index is up 14.2 percent since hitting its 2008 low on March 10.

The Dow closed Friday at 13,058.20, a gain of 1.3 percent for the week, the first three-week winning streak for the blue-chip benchmark since October.

The Nasdaq finished at 2,476.99, up 2.2 percent. The S&P 500 ended the week at 1,413.90, a rise of 1.1 percent.

But amid the recent exuberance on Wall Street, some experts were maintaining a more cautious stance.

"I think we are in a recession," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.

Even though he called the employment news "encouraging," he added that "it is much too premature to signal that the economic coast is clear."

STOCKS

13,132

DOW

12,806

2,500

NASDAQ

2,406

1,423

S&P

1,383

Numbers are week's intraday highs and lows

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