When 18-year-old Robert White decided to jumpstart his retirement plan, he invested his life savings of $25,000 into an aggressive mutual fund.
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LONDON (MarketWatch) — U.K. same-store sales values rose 1% in August compared to the same month last year, the British Retail Consortium reported Tuesday, after a 0.5% year-on-year rise in July. Total sales rose 2.8% compared to August 2009, after a 2.6% annual increase in July. “These results are a slight improvement on last month, but this better growth is compared with a very poor performance a year ago and sales were often deal-driven,” said Stephen Robertson, BRC director general. Retailers will be hoping that government budget cuts and an upcoming rise in the value-added tax won’t dent consumer confidence in coming months, he said.

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SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Macquarie Group Ltd. said Monday that most markets have continued to be weak and that its first-half profit, covering April to September of this year, is expected to be about 25% less than the year-earlier level. The financial group said that global market conditions are hitting activity for its securities, capital and fixed-income, currencies and commodities operations. Profit for the fiscal year to March 31 is expected to be broadly in line with fiscal 2010 levels if market activity returns to more normal levels in the second half, the firm said. At June 30, the firm’s surplus capital totaled 3.1 billion Australian dollars ($2.8 billion), compared to A$4.0 billion at the end of March.

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Stocks started September with a bang as investors cheered a rare dose of good economic news but investors may need to buckle in for the coming week: It’s a holiday-shortened week with little on the docket to set the tone.
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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks finished Friday’s session and the week with strong gains, as a not-as-bad-as-feared August jobs report provided some relief from concerns over the slowing U.S. economy. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 127.83 points, or 1.2%, to end at 10,447.93. Blue-chip gains were led by a 2.7% gain in shares of JP Morgan Chase , up 2.7%, and Cisco Systems , up 2.5%. For the week, the blue-chip average rose 2.9%, ending a three-week losing streak. The S&P 500 index rose 14.41 points, or 1.3%, to end at 1,104.51, led by the financials sector, up 2.2%. The broad index rose 3.8% for the week, also posting a weekly gain for the first time in four weeks. The Nasdaq Composite rose 33.74 points, or 1.5%, to 2,233.75 on Friday, for a weekly gain of 3.7%.

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Stocks closed near session highs Friday, with the Dow erasing its losses for the year, as investors welcomed a better-than-expected report on the U.S. job market.
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SYDNEY (MarketWatch) – Australia’s Treasury has found a hole of up to 11 billion Australian dollars ($10 billion) in the Liberal-National coalition’s estimates over the cost breakdown of its campaign promises, according to reports. Liberal-National Treasury spokesman, Joe Hockey, said Thursday that the Treasury’s findings were a “difference of opinion,” Dow Jones Newswires reported. The figures were submitted for audit last week, and the Treasury’s findings were unveiled late Wednesday. The country’s Aug. 21 general election left both the ruling Labor Party and the Liberal-National opposition coalition without the necessary seats to form a government. Both parties are now trying to win support from non-party lawmakers to take the number of seats they hold from 73 to the 76 needed for a majority in the lower house of Parliament.

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Stocks pushed higher at the end of a listless session Thursday, extending gains from the previous day, as investors prepare for a critical report on the U.S. job market on Friday.
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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Hurricane Earl was upgraded to a category 4 storm by the National Hurricane Center on Wednesday afternoon. Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 135 mph, with higher gusts, the Center said in an update from 5 p.m. Eastern time on its website. “Earl is again a category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale,” the Center said. “Some fluctuations in intensity are likely tonight and Thursday…but a gradual weakening trend is anticipated thereafter.” On the current forecast track, the core of Hurricane Earl will approach the North Carolina coast by late Thursday, it added.

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The bulls are back on Wall Street. After a bearish August, stocks roared into September with a major rally on Tuesday, as investors cheered signs of strength in the manufacturing sector.
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