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Nikkei Falls As Yen Gains; JAL And ANA Rise Sun Dec 13, 2009 9:09pm * Nikkei down as yen gains on dollar, futures sold * BOJ tankan market neutral, but lower capex a concern * JAL, ANA gain after "open skies" deal TOKYO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average lost 0.8 percent on Monday, with exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) falling as the yen erased earlier losses to rise against the dollar. Japan Airlines Corp (9205.T) gained 2.1 percent and rival All Nippon Airways (9202.T) also rose after the United States and Japan reached a landmark...

In an interview with Bloomberg Friday morning Bob Toll, CEO of Toll Brothers, says the housing market is “coming back”. He sees the pressures in real estate alleviating as consumers rebound and government programs help boost up the market. Toll says we’re on the verge of a “serious good time”: I don’t see prices going down any longer. I think you’re gonna see them start to go up. As they accelerate we’ll get closer to a serious good time again, but we’re not there yet. Despite this, the Toll Brothers CEO has dumped hundreds of millions in stock and company...

Equities Update: Consumer Cheer Leads Stocks Higher Midnight Trader December 11, 2009 Stocks pulled out modest gains in Friday's regular session as traders were cheered by a set of economic datapoints that would suggest the beleaguered U.S. consumer is showing some signs of life. The Commerce Department said retail sales were up 1.3% in November, well ahead of Street expectations of a 0.7% rise and an indication that consumers are feeling slightly more comfortable with the economic outlook. Separately, the University of Michigan/Reuters consumer sentiment index notched a solid move higher to 73.4 in December from 67.4 in November. The...

Rosenberg: Market Volatility Will Double And Stocks Will Collapse Vincent FernandoDec. 11, 2009, 5:06 AM | Having been on the wrong side of the market in 2009, Gluskin Sheff's David Rosenberg is doubling down his bearish bet. It's the smartest course of action for him at this point -- so expect market volatility to double in 2010: Bloomberg: “We’ll be in a year of heightened volatility,” Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc. in Toronto, said in an interview. “We’ll see periods in 2010 where the VIX will be north of 30 in a period of risk aversion...

Richard Russell: Downturn Will Be 'Vicious' by: The Pragmatic Capitalist December 09, 2009 Despite the incredible 60% rally and chatter of a new secular bull market many investors remain highly skeptical of the equity markets. David Rosenberg recently released his 10 reasons why the rally is over and Meredith Whitney says the market is again at risk of a downturn. But there is perhaps no one more skeptical of the rally than the great Richard Russell, author of the Dow Theory Letters. Russell continues to believe we are in a secular bear market and currently believes we could be in...

Why Are Stocks Up? by Donald Devine Issue 145 - December 9, 2009 President Barack Obama was finally relieved to announce, “We have pulled the economy back from the brink.” While warning there was still a “long way to go,” he emphasized, “We got good news last week showing that for the first time in over a year the economy was actually growing once again.” A few days before the Commerce Department noted the gross domestic product had turned positive (later adjusted to +2.8%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke above 10,000 – both, as the president said, for...

Nikkei Falls 1.1% As Yen, Credit Worries WeighBy Aiko Hayashi Wed Dec 9, 2009 11:44pm * Credit woes in Dubai, Greece weigh on confidence - analyst * Sharp rebound rally may have come to an end - analyst * Suzuki down after Volkswagen deal announcement TOKYO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average fell 1.1 percent on Thursday after a recent sharp rebound, as credit troubles overseas weighed on investor confidence and a stronger yen pressured shares of exporters. Suzuki Motor (7269.T) skidded nearly 5 percent, erasing the gain logged Wednesday on hopes for an alliance agreement with Volkswagen, after...

If you relish drama, 2009 had it all. In a cliffhanger, the very visible hand of government helped wrest the U.S. economy from the abyss. Following the longest and steepest recession since World War II, initial reports indicated gross domestic product grew 3.5% in the third quarter. Anticipating the end of the downturn, a nearly comatose stock market bottomed on March 9, then soared 60% in just seven months. What’s in store for 2010? Recessions stemming from financial crises tend to be severe and are usually followed by relatively anemic economic recoveries. This time will be no exception, with one...

The FTSE chart is identical to what happened over Thanksgiving (absent the 5 hours of downtime of course): FTSE 100 down 1.6%, FTSE Eurofirst 300 down 1.7%, And as if having all its bankers depart and its CT office look like a ghost town, RBS is now getting freshly clobbered. In US futures, computers with massive REIT positions are short circuiting. The reason: that long-buried (in the sand) and presumably "taken care of" problem of Dubai: Dubai shares tumbled to the lowest level in almost five months, led by Emaar Properties PJSC and Emirates NBD PJSC, on concern that Dubai...

Stock Market And Gold Crash, Are We About To Repeat 2008? Stock-Markets / Financial Crash Dec 07, 2009 - 09:34 PM By: Graham_Summers A few weeks ago on November 10, I wrote an article Three Reasons Gold Might be Making a Head Fake. In it, I noted that Gold’s recent rally was largely due to Dollar devaluation (Gold had failed to hit new highs in other world currencies) as well as several other factors that disconfirmed the precious metal’s explosive rise. I wrote: Unless we start seeing confirmations of Gold’s breakout coming from other precious metals or gold mining stocks,...

Stock Market , Gold, Commodities And Economic Forecasts For 2010 Stock-Markets / Forecasts & Technical Analysis Dec 07, 2009 - 08:33 AM By: Martin_D_Weiss Martin Weiss: Two recent mega-events — the Wall Street collapse in 2008 and the Washington response in 2009 … the debt implosion and then the money printing explosion — are mind-boggling in their dimensions. Neither you nor I can know with certainty what the future will bring. But at this particular juncture, we don’t have to poke around in hidden crevices of the economy. Nor must we stretch our imagination to conjure this or that scenario....

80% Chance Of A Market Crash In The Next Year John P. Hussman, PhDDec. 7, 2009, 6:12 AM The following is an excerpt from fund manager John Hussman's weekly letter. You can read the whole thing here. I noted last week that from a Bayesian perspective, I would estimate a probability of nearly 80% that we will observe a second round of credit losses coupled with a market plunge in the coming year or so. That doesn't imply an all-out “crash,” but more likely a retreat similar in size to what we have often observed following other post-crash rebounds (about...

View to 2010: Downside Risks At Least As Great As Upside Potential J.D. Steinhilber December 07, 2009 Our stock market outlook is neutral as we move towards the end of 2009. The weight of the evidence seems to favor a continuation of the bull market into the first half of 2010, with the potential for additional gains in the broad averages of 10% to perhaps 20%. However, we expect bear market conditions will return at some point next year. The performance of the economy and corporate earnings will disappoint, as the private sector continues its deleveraging process, and government stimulus...

Stocks Soar On Jobs Report By Melinda Peer 12/04/09 - 09:36 AM EST NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stocks broke out of the gate strong on Friday after U.S. job losses eased at a swifter pace than expected in November. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 101.65 points, or nearly 1%, at 10,467.8 at the start of trading on Friday. The S&P 500 added 12.19 points, or 1.1%, to 1112.11 and the Nasdaq gained 30.75 points, or 1.4%, to 2203.89. The U.S. economy lost 11,000 jobs in November, which was much better than the 125,000 job losses anticipated by...

Nikkei Slips 0.4% After Breaking Above 10,000 Thu Dec 3, 2009 8:23pm ESTBy Aiko Hayashi TOKYO, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average slipped 0.4 percent on Friday after briefly going above 10,000 for the first time in five weeks, as exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) took a breather after sharp gains. Takefuji Corp (8564.T) tumbled more than 8 percent after the Asahi newspaper reported that the struggling consumer finance firm has significantly scaled back lending to preserve cash as it faces difficulty raising funds. "A short-cover rally, which was supported by foreign investors who were relieved to...

Stocks Are 40% Overvalued, Says Smithers Henry BlodgetDec. 3, 2009, 6:44 AM Stocks have jumped about 70% from the March lows. As we've noted, they have also blasted past most estimates of fair value, which are generally around 900 on the S&P 500 on a cyclically-adjusted price-earnings ratio (see professor Robert Shiller's chart below) London economist Andrew Smithers says valuations are even more extreme. In a recent interview with Kate Welling of Weeden & Co., he put the overvaluation at 40%: Would you mind running through how you arrive at that 40% overpriced valuation? Certainly. The EPS on the S&P...

The Nikkei Explodes 3.8% Higher Joe WeisenthalDec. 3, 2009, 4:57 AM Forget that the Yen is sitting at a 14-year high, or that the country remains a gigantic mess. Buyers went nuts in Japan last night. WSJ: Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 3.8%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3%, South Korea's Kospi Composite gained 1.5% and New Zealand's NZX-50 finished 0.1% higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended up 1.2%, while China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.2% and Taiwan's main index edged up 0.1%. In foreign exchange markets, the U.S. dollar remained supported against the yen on speculation Japanese authorities may step in...

I was wrong. Not about the implosion of the credit markets, which I urgently warned about in 2007 and early 2008. Not about the recession, which we shifted to anticipating in November 2007. Not about the plunge in the stock market, which erased the entire 2002-2007 market gain, which was no surprise. Not about the “ebb and flow” of short-term data, which I frequently noted could produce a powerful (though perhaps abruptly terminated) market advance even in the face of dangerous longer-term cross-currents. I expect not even about the “surprising” second wave of credit distress that we can expect as...

Now that the true agenda of the Global Warming Fraud has been made public, should investors in GE and other Eco-GW stocks be dropped for the more traditional Oil and Gas stocks?

Nikkei Set To Fall After Wall St Losses, Tech Tumble Thu Nov 19, 2009 6:27pm EST TOKYO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average is set to fall on Friday, with tech stocks such as Advantest Corp (6857.T) vulnerable after disappointing U.S. data fed concern about the economic recovery and tech shares fell on a brokerage downgrade. Investors will also watch Sony Corp (6758.T), which on Thursday pushed back an elusive target of an operating profit margin of 5 percent to March 2013 as it heads for its second straight loss and loses ground to overseas competitors. [ID:nT265644] "It's possible...

"A Truly Extraordinary Slump": Reports Of Robust Recovery Premature, James Galbraith Says Posted Nov 19, 2009 01:51pm EST by Aaron Task in Newsmakers, Recession Disappointing reports this week on housing starts and foreclosures, as well as the index of leading economic indicators, have cast a bit of a pall on the "robust recovery" story, putting a crimp in the stock market's ascent in the process. University of Texas professor James Galbraith was never a believer in the V-shaped recovery and says it's going to take a very long time for the U.S. to recover from a "truly extraordinary slump." What...

US STOCKS-Wall St Set To Slip At Open On (Unexpected) Housing Data Wed Nov 18, 2009 9:06am EST By Ellis Mnyandu NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set to open lower on Wednesday after data showed U.S. housing starts fell unexpectedly in October, offsetting strength in the natural resources sectors amid U.S. dollar weakness. Housing starts dropped to their lowest level in six months, weighed down by a sharp decline in construction activity for both single-family and multi-family dwellings, the government reported. For details, see [ID:nN1738618] The data was the latest setback for investors eager for definitive...

The U.S. dollar slid to 15-month lows on Monday, boosting world stocks and commodity prices, even after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank was monitoring the value of the greenback "closely." U.S. crude oil futures jumped more than 3 percent as the weaker dollar prompted investors to buy higher-yielding assets such as commodities and stocks. The greenback weakened on better-than-expected U.S. retail sales data, which stoked risk appetite, and after Asian and U.S. leaders failed to agree on exchange rates at a summit in Singapore. The dollar briefly pared its losses after Bernanke said the Fed...

U.S. stocks rose broadly on Monday, sending indexes to fresh 13-month closing highs, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reinforced expectations that interest rates would stay low to spur growth. Bernanke repeated that the Fed was likely to keep interest rates exceptionally low for "an extended period," a pledge that weighed on the U.S. dollar and drove investors to snap up shares of natural resource companies as prices of global commodities -- from gold to wheat -- shot higher. In a speech before the Economic Club of New York, Bernanke said the recovery would not be as robust as previously...

Meredith Whitney: "I Haven't Been This Bearish In A Year" (XLF) Joe WeisenthalNov. 16, 2009, 3:38 PM XLF Nov 16 2009, 03:59 PM EST 14.83 Change % Change +0.17 +1.16% Oof. Financials are taking a hit after Meredith Whitney told CNBC that she "hasn't been this bearish in a year." She's also calling for a "double dip" recession. StreetInsider bullet-points her comments: * the banking sector is "not adequately capitalized today" * sees another leg down in the residential real estate market when mortgage rates/prices begin moving lower. To this point, Meredith said she feels that there is still a...

Stocks At 13-Month Highs As Dollar Slips On 1:37 pm EST, Monday November 16, 2009 By Rodrigo Campos Reuters - U.S. flags hang on the facade of the New York Stock Exchange, October 8, 2009. REUTERS/Chip East ... NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday to 13-month highs led by energy and materials shares even as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economic expansion probably will not be as robust as hoped. Commodity-related companies led the broad advance as oil and metals prices rose, lifted by a declining U.S. dollar. The dollar weakness prompted investors into riskier...

Manic-depressive Stock Market Inviting A Black Swan Event? Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2009 Nov 14, 2009 - 08:51 AM By: Anthony_Cherniawski Guess Where Our Economic Stimulus Money is Going The trade deficit in the U.S. widened in September by the most in a decade, reflecting rising demand for imported oil and automobiles as the economy rebounded from the worst recession since the 1930s. The gap grew a larger-than-anticipated 18 percent to $36.5 billion, the highest level since January, from a revised $30.8 billion in August, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Imports surged by the most in 16 years,...

All we need is for The Fed to encourage and promote the dollar carry trade, and we can pump the stock market to the moon - even though unemployment continues to skyrocket and consumer confidence, a leading indicator of consumer spending and activity, was in the tank this morning. You need no further proof that the stock market has exactly nothing to do with the consumer or the broader economy - that it has become nothing more or less than a raw casino that responds to one and only one thing - the Federal Reserve and Federal Government's encouragement of...

SELL Signal Alerts For Stocks, Bonds, Gold and Crude Oil Stock-Markets / Stocks Bear Market Nov 13, 2009 - 01:39 AM By: Anthony_Cherniawski U.S. equity benchmark indexes fell from 13-month highs as energy shares slumped following bigger- than-estimated growth in oil stockpiles, erasing an earlier advance spurred by Hewlett-Packard Co.’s takeover of 3Com Corp. The dollar rose the most versus the euro since August. “The fundamentals just aren’t quite there yet,” said Sarah Hunt, a money manager who helps oversee about $6.5 billion for Purchase, New York-based Alpine Mutual Funds. “You still have a lot of concerns about the demand...

Forget 11,000, Dow Heading For 6000 And GE Still a Short, Charles Ortel Says Posted Nov 12, 2009 02:38pm EST Aaron Task in Investing Coming off its highs of 2009, the Dow is heading for its first down day of November, which is pretty much a non-event and arguably overdue. But there's plenty more down days ahead for the Dow, and big ones, according to Charles Ortel, managing partner of Newport Value Partners. When this current "hope-based" rally ends, Ortel believes the Dow will fall into the 5000-6000 range, based on the following: * Economic fundamentals: In addition to huge...

Forget the stock market. Sure, the Dow has made a stunning improvement since January 20. But that’s not the place to put your money. Unemployment is outpacing Wall Street just a bit. Joblessness went from 7.6 percent when Obama took office to 10.2 -- whopping a 34 percent increase. If you could invest in job loss, you’d be a big winner under the current president. Clearly the people without jobs might not appreciate that philosophy. Who could blame them? For all that the media maligned the Bush administration over the economy, unemployment was better the entire time we had George...

For two and a half years The Market Ticker has pointed out the foibles of The Fed and other claims of "help" for the economy - when the prescription for "help" is just an extension of the same failed policies that created the mess in the first place. But now we are starting to see this show up in the so-called "mainstream media", with the latest being The Wall Street Journal: It takes similar reasoning to reconcile the elation felt across America every time the stock market rises—partially replenishing personal investment portfolios and 401(k) retirement plans—with the uneasy feeling that...

GLOBAL MARKETS-Gold At New High On Weak Dollar, Shares Slip Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:39am EST By Susan Fenton HONG KONG, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Gold rose above $1,120 an ounce to a fresh record high on Thursday as the U.S. dollar wavered near 15-month lows, while Asian shares lost ground as investors took profits after four days of gains. Financial spreadbetters expected British and French shares to follow Asian markets lower but saw a higher opening for Germany's DAX share index U.S. equity futures slipped 0.4 percent. The dollar fell to a 15-month low in early trade before recouping...

Testing Time For The USD And Aging Stock Market Rally Stock-Markets / Financial Markets 2009 Nov 11, 2009 - 12:31 PM By: Garry_Abeshouse No one alive has probably experienced a time when so much highly geared money has been controlled by so few large corporations, who with their accumulated power, have governments all over the world running scared. This power has been magnified with the continued availability of government handouts and cheap funding from the USD Carry Trade. This has created an "Open Sesame" to a monetary wish list that has no limits for those involved. It makes for a...

That 10.2% Unemployment Report Was The Best Thing That Could Happen To Stocks Joe WeisenthalNov. 9, 2009, 6:56 PM Friday was stunning. After a shock unemployment reading of 10.2%, the market surged. And then, after a weekend of stewing things over, markets rocketed higher again today, and are now comfortably sitting at the highs of the year. So why the powerful rally despite the so-so fundamentals? Maybe because rising unemployment guarantees a continuation of sub-0% interest rates. Think about it. In recent months, stocks have maintained a tight 1-to-1 inverse correlation with the dollar. As the dollar declines, stocks go...

Why is the Stock Market Rising When The Economic Recovery is Weak? Stock-Markets / US Interest Rates Nov 10, 2009 - 04:35 AM By: John_Mauldin "Why" many ask, "is the stock market going up when the bond market is telling us the recovery will be tepid? Isn't there a disconnect?" And the answer is that there is, and this week good friend and fishing buddy Paul McCulley of PIMCO fame discusses that very topic with his usual insight and wit. He poses the conundrum that those expecting a "V" shaped recovery have pushed risk assets up quite high, and that...

Stocks Rocket To Biggest Gains Of 2009 Vince VenezianiNov. 9, 2009, 4:03 PM Today was one for the record books. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit its 2009 year high today, going as high 10,228 in late afternoon trading and finishing at 10,227. The NASDAQ didn't do too bad either, ending up 41 points at 2154. The S&P 500 was able to gain 23 points to close at 1093. The Federal Reserve today also released a survey that shows banks are still limiting the amount of credit offered to both businesses and consumers. The market couldn't have cared less. Gold...

The Feds Have No Faith In Economic Recovery Economics / Economic Stimulus Nov 05, 2009 - 05:18 AM By: Michael_Pento The stock market has enjoyed a significant rally since the end of the first quarter. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported last week that the economy grew at a 3.5% annual rate in the third quarter--a figure they achieved by that claiming inflation was running at only a 0.8% annual rate, despite a sharp drop in the dollar, a spike in commodity prices and record highs for gold. The cyclical bull market in stocks and positive print on GDP has...

Europe Stocks Trim Losses After ECB, BoE Decisions Thu Nov 5, 2009 8:04am EST By Blaise Robinson PARIS, Nov 5 (Reuters) - European stocks were down 0.3 percent by early afternoon on Thursday, with banks and miners among the biggest losers. Yet shares trimmed their losses after both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank kept rates unchanged. The BoE kept rates on hold and said it would expand its quantitative easing programme by 25 billion pounds ($41 billion), while the ECB kept interest rates at 1 percent as expected. The two central banks' decisions came a day...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks ended mixed Wednesday, giving up bigger gains after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and said it will keep them low for an extended period. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) gained 30 points or 0.3%, according to early tallies. The Dow had gained as much as 156 points in the afternoon, but couldn't sustain those gains through the close. The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 1 point, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) lost a few points. Stocks rose through the early afternoon as investors welcomed a pair of labor market reports that...

Sell-off, Telecom Meltdown Continue By Akash Joshi The stock market saw the steepest fall after August on Tuesday as benchmark indices fell for the sixth straight trading session on huge sell-off in heavyweight stocks and weak cues from global markets. The pressure on telecom stocks continued as Reliance Communications (RCOM.NS : 165.8 0) fell 5.7% to close at Rs 165.8, in it seventh straight day of losses. Though its rival Bharti Airtel (BHARTIARTL.BO : 299.95 0) closed on the positive zone, the pressure on telecom stocks persisted. In the current year, RComm slid by 27% and Bharti by 16% when...

Asian And European Stocks Tank Joe WeisenthalNov. 3, 2009, 5:43 AM Yesterday's crazy trading ended surprisingly higher, but markets overseas couldn't follow through. Asian markets generally ended lower, with Hong Kong down 1.8%, Europe is sharply lower as well, with all major indices down over 1.3%. In the US, futures are following suit, pointing straight down.[snip]

Technical Analyst: The World Is About To End Henry BlodgetNov. 3, 2009, 6:59 AMSince expressing (ridicule) skepticism about technical analysis a few months ago, we have been politely badgered by reader John Brims, who has been sending us charts and murmuring about wedges. We will confess that we have not been listening too carefully, because, well, because we think technical analysis is a bunch of bullsh**. But John has been persistent, so we'll give him his chance to shine. John says the chart below indicates that the world is about to end. So hang on to your hat! Henry, I...

Is the U.S. Dollar About To Crush Stocks? Currencies / US Dollar Nov 02, 2009 - 07:00 AM By: Graham_Summers Long-time readers know that I’ve begun to develop a love/hate relationship with the US Dollar. On one hand I believe the US currency is horribly flawed given our unserviceable debt load and the Fed’s profligate spending. However, on the other hand, to make money investing you have to be willing to go against the crowd. And with less than 3% of investors currently bullish on the US Dollar, the contrarian in me can’t help but wonder if we have the...

Posted Nov 02, 2009 11:00am EST By Aaron Task in Investing Stocks rose sharply early Monday, quelling concerns (for now at least) about another rout after Friday's big decline. As Wells Capital's Jim Paulsen might say, the very fact so many people were worried about a possible crash Monday is a sign of the prevailing bearish sentiment. The market will continue to climb this proverbial "wall of worry," say bulls like Paulsen. That may well prove true but the past few weeks have reintroduced a level of volatility largely absent since the July lows. Clearly, the tenor of the market...

Will Markets Miss Another Shot At A Healthy Correction? Ron Coby Nov 02, 2009 9:05 am Every time they're ready to break down, they rally instead. My favorite Peanuts cartoon was Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football. I’m sure you all remember them: Lucy convinces Charlie Brown she’ll hold the ball while he kicks it. But every time Charlie Brown runs to kick the ball, Lucy pulls it away, leaving Charlie Brown flat on his back , crying out in pain and disillusionment . Well, that’s how the bears have felt since March. They’ve played the part of Charlie...

Nikkei (Japan Stocks) Slides On Strong Yen, Wall St Drop Sun Nov 1, 2009 7:09pm EST TOKYO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The Nikkei average slipped 1.3 percent at the open on Monday, with shares falling across the board, hit by a stronger yen and after Wall Street tumbled on weak consumer spending data and renewed worries about Citigroup's (C.N) balance sheet. The benchmark Nikkei .N225 shed 130.97 points to 9,903.77 at the open before falling to its lowest point in three weeks.[snip]The Nikkei is down 2.5% as I post this. See here.

Stocks Get Spooked By Elizabeth Trotta 10/31/09 - 02:56 PM EDTNEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Volatility spiked, and a strengthening dollar, compounded with a soft consumer spending report and sustainability fears, made for a dreary close to the month and what one observer called "a precarious position." October held true to its reputation as a bad month for stocks: The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up less than one half of a point; the S&P 500 lost just less than 2%; and the Nasdaq fell 3.6%. Much of those losses materialized Friday. The Dow lost 249.85 points, or 2.5%, to 9709,...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks tumbled Friday, more than erasing the previous session's gains, as investors dumped a variety of shares at the end of a rough week and choppy month on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost nearly 250 points, or 2.5%, according to early tallies. The Dow lost as much as 278 points earlier. It was the Dow's biggest one-day selloff on a point basis since April 20. The S&P 500 (SPX) index fell 30 points, or 2.8% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) shed 52 points, or 2.5%. The selloff was broad based, with all...

Treasurues-Bonds Jump As Mixed Data Fuels Recovery Doubts Fri Oct 30, 2009 11:29am EDT By Richard Leong NEW YORK, Oct 30 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasuries debt prices rose on Friday after a batch of mixed signals fanned skepticism about the strength of an economic recovery, rekindling a safety bid for bonds. Concerns that the the world's biggest economy could contract again hammered Wall Street, a day after the government said the United States posted its first quarterly growth in more than a year. With the economy still fragile a year after the global credit crisis, the Federal Reserve will likely...