Stocks close mixed on Day 1 of new quarter
NEW YORK, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. stock markets closed mixed Monday in New York.
The day began with a report providing stronger-than-expected manufacturing data and lighter-than-expected bad news from Europe.
The Institute of Supply Management said the Purchasing Managers Index for U.S. firms came to 51.5 percent for September, above the break-even point of 50 percent. The consensus forecast called for further contraction in manufacturing with a prediction of 49.7 percent, near the 49.6 percent index reading in August.
In Spain during the weekend, a stress test of the nation's 14 largest banks found only seven required government assistance. This reduced an expected $130 billion loan for Spain to about $60 billion.
By close of trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average added 77.98 points or 0.58 percent to 13,515.11. The Nasdaq composite index shed 2.70 points or 0.09 percent to 3,113.53. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 3.82 points or 0.27 percent to 1,444.49.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,884 stocks advanced and 1,174 declined on a volume of 3.3 billion shares traded.
The benchmark 10-year treasury note rose 3/32 to yield 1.628 percent.
The euro rose to $1.2886 from Friday's $1.2859. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 78.02 yen from 77.93 yen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index shed 0.83 percent, 73.65, to 8,796.51.
In London, the FTSE 100 index added 1.37 percent, 78.38, to 5,820.45.
Ad-supported Internet makes jobs, profits
NEW YORK, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Internet advertising generated $530 billion last year and supported an "ecosystem" of 5.1 million jobs in the United States, an industry study said Monday.
The study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau said the economic value of online industries has roughly doubled since 2007 and constituted 3.7 percent of U.S. gross domestic product last year, up from 2.1 percent four years ago.
"The substantial economic impact of the Internet -- through its evolution and dynamism -- has been borne out by this study," study author John Deighton said in a bureau release.
New York and California were home to the headquarters of the largest number of U.S. Internet firms, the study found, while the jobs supported by the Internet include 375,000 in one-person firms and small companies, many of whom sell on Amazon, eBay and other sites, plus self-employed web designers, writers and programmers.
Digital industries directly employ 2 million Americans and online activity indirectly supports an additional 3.1 million jobs, the study found.
"The rapid growth of the ad-supported Internet has become a major driver in the U.S. economy," Randall Rothenberg, the bureau's president and chief executive, said.
Bernanke answers to inflation hawks
INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke answered critics Monday, saying the Fed's monetary policies will not lead to inflation.
"No, that's not what is happening and that will not happen," Bernanke said in a speech Monday at the Economic Club of Indiana in Indianapolis.
Bernanke was answering his own question. "I sometimes hear ... by buying securities are you 'monetizing the debt,' printing money for the government to use and will that inevitably lead to higher inflation?"
In the first place, Bernanke said, "we are acquiring Treasury securities on the open market and only on a temporary basis with the goal of supporting the economic recovery through lower interest rates."
When the time is right, the Fed will sell these securities, returning its portfolio to "a more normal size," he said.
"Moreover, the way the Fed finances its securities purchases is by creating reserves in the banking system."
Using money it sets aside rather than money it creates means the Fed is not putting more money into circulation, which is so widely assumed that quantitative easing is also called "printing money."
The Fed said in mid-September it would increase its securities purchases through the end of 2012 to a total of $85 billion in purchases per month.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the move proved the economy needed help. Others complained that too much liquidity in the marketplace would provide the opportunity for prices to rise.
But Bernanke said increased bank reserves held at the Fed, which was used to make the purchases, "does not necessarily translate into more money or cash in circulation and, indeed, broad measures of the money supply have not grown especially quickly, on balance, over the past few years."
Bernanke also said the central bank had an excellent record on inflation, having kept it near 2 percent "for several decades."
"The Federal Reserve's price stability record is excellent," he said.
But it also requires vigilance, Bernanke noted.
"The key question is whether the Federal Reserve has the policy tools to tighten monetary conditions at the appropriate time so as to prevent the emergence of inflationary pressures down the road," the chairman said.
He then answered his own question again.
"I'm confident that we have the necessary tools to withdraw policy accommodation when needed," he said.
Yahoo! CEO gives birth
SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer is now a mother, having given birth to a son, her husband announced.
Mayer's husband, an investor who focuses on Internet companies, did not mention the name or weight of the baby born Sunday night, but announced online that "Both Marissa and baby are healthy and the family is very excited."
The San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News reported Monday that Mayer, who was hired in July, did not disclose her pregnancy until after she was hired.
Yahoo! said Mayer, 37, would work "remotely and ... return to work as soon as possible, likely in one to two weeks."
In an interview in July, Mayer said she would take "a few weeks" off when her child was born.
