Market Watch 10/02/2009

 

Today is Friday, The weather is sunny in here.

The unemployment rate hit 9.8 percent in September, the highest since June 1983, as employers cut a worse-than-expected 263,000 jobs.

Oil prices tumbled Friday as unemployment hit a 26-year high, sowing more doubts about the strength of the economic recovery and crude demand.

Analysis said October is shaping up to be a challenging month for investors. Strong earnings could help offset any growing concerns about a recovery and stabilize the market, but solid revenue growth is what is needed to put the market on ‘firm footing’. In the second quarter, many companies’ sales were disappointing, and it was only through cost-cutting that profits were able to rise.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed the week down 177.52, or 1.8 percent, at 9,487.67. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 19.17, or 1.8 percent, to 1,025.21. The Nasdaq composite index fell 42.81, or 2 percent, to 2,048.11.

The dollar was mixed against other currencies. Gold prices edged higher.

Crude oil fell 87 cents to settle at $69.95 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.