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US stocks powered higher today as a blockbuster Microsoft bid for Yahoo helped Wall Street shake off a shock report showing the first decline in jobs for the US economy in over four years.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 95.19 points (0.75 per cent) at 12,745.55.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite added 21.75 points (0.91 per cent) to 2,411.61 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 16.16 points (1.17 per cent) to a preliminary close of 1,394.71.
Investors were hit with a deluge of news including data showing a loss of 17,000 jobs in January, the first decline in jobs since August 2003 for the US economy, and a blockbuster 44.6-billion-dollar bid by Microsoft for Yahoo that would shake up the tech space.
- REUTERS
