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Subscribe to RSSU.S. stock prices tumbled at Friday’s opening bell, setting Wall Street up for its biggest quarterly loss since the collapse of Lehman Brothers three years ago.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down over 100 points in the first few minutes of trading, but was lately working off that loss.
A debt crisis in Europe, a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating and deepening concern about the economic outlook has rattled investors in the third quarter and led many of them to reduce their bets on risky assets.
European shares are also in the red Friday and on track to record their worst quarterly performance since late 2008 amid growing fears of a global economic slowdown.
Data showing a continued contraction in China stirred fears the global economy was slowing, Reuters said. China’s manufacturing sector slowed for a third consecutive month in September, suggesting that the world's second-largest economy is not immune to global headwinds.
In economic news, new data on U.S. personal income and consumption in August show American consumers spent slightly more last month, but they earned less for the first time in nearly two years. Another report showed business activity in the U.S. Midwest grew more than expected.
And American consumers were more upbeat in September, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s final reading of U.S. consumer sentiment.
Market volatility is expected to remain high Friday as traders react to European headlines and attempt to gauge the euro zone’s commitment to helping Greece avoid a debt default.
Wall Street closed Thursday with a solid gain after a volatile session as investors cheered upbeat news on jobless claims and economic growth and were optimistic that Europe is taking steps to tackle its debt crisis.
A boost came from Germany's parliamentary approval for new powers to the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) -- a bailout fund for debt-ridden European economies.
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This is a bunch of crap. Computerized trading and market manipulation play emotional games on mid-level investors causing wide swings over lack of significant changes. What a bunch of fools!!!
Go to a website called Dissident Voice-an article by Ellen Brown was posted today. It's titled "Sheared by the Shorts". The article talks about short-selling, manipulation, proxie shareholders showing up at board meetings. This story is a real eye opener and explains how the market is rigged.
Sorry, I don't know how to do links on the laptop yet. But really, check out the article.
Read it, very revealing article!Thanks!
No surprise here. Yesterday stocks soared, today they tumbled. Same story, different day.
Its called profit taking. Its what day traders do.
Its such a joke. "Today the wind blew 9 degrees from the east......so stocks fell". "Stock soared today because the sun in China rose at 6:13am". FOOLS chasing money. The root of every single man created problem in world. I hope the market crashes to 0. I'd have a party on that day.
Jim-1055029...
Your party should have a theme... everyone should wear boots and fatigues.
The manipulators can't hide their existence anymore, yet the little fish keep biting on the bait... will they wind up baked, fried, broiled, or just plain raw?
Alot of recent posts belittling the protesters who are demonstrating near Wall St. I think people are starting to see the big picture and realize how America has been badly damaged by the CEOs, traders who infest Wall St., and the bank bailouts. Now BOA charges a $5 debit card fee to it's members with smaller balances. CEOs still recieve huge bonuses and buyouts at taxpayer expense. An article was run discussing the possibility of taxpayer $$ being used to bail the EU. The list of corporate wrongdoing goes on and on.
Apparently a huge demonstration is going to be held in DC Oct. 6; I, for one, support the protesters who are in the Wall St. area.
I think people have had enough; it's time to take our country AND our money back. I have no sympathy whatsoever for Wall St; they can crash and burn along with the banking industry, Fed, etc.
Mike, help me understand how the bonuses are at taxpayer expense. Also, yes, let's have the stock market, banks and the federal reserve crash. Then, when you're trying to trade a can of beans for a loaf of bread you can let us know how that worked out for you. It will be interesting to see how big this demonstration in DC is. I'm sure it will crush the numbers in NYC. Of course, that won't be hard.
What happened, everthing was rosey and looking good in the media yesterday?
You blinked.
Stupidity and greed at it's finest.
May I make a humble suggestion: quit wasting your time writing about the stock market going up and down. It always has, and always will. The only thing we miss are are wonderful oil traders who kept running the price of gas up on those nasty "Rumors" they would hear, and we suffer.
Start writing about Comrade Obama and what he and his fellow communists are doing to destroy Capitalism.
The stock market has evolved into a electronic speed of light free for all, where billions of American's dollars ebb and flow over fiber optics and computer storage. Wasn't the stock market designed to give citizens shared ownership so that they could share wealth and growth naturally over time? Now it has turned into a daily game of cat and mouse, and the volatility alone keeps the market weak and prone to failure.
We need a new market system designed to keep the old ideas in tact. We need natural and steady growth from a solid market. I was told in college, and little did I believe then being a Computer Science student, that technology slowly disintegrates values that made America strong. Perhaps that was a true statement.
We need a new market system that isn't built on ponzi scheming middle class income by artificially boosting the economy.
IN a capitalist society, it will probably never change, blinded by prospects of profit.
No. The stock market was designed for big investors to take fractional ownership of a diverse invests to hedge against any particular investing going bad. They supported liquidity for the first corporations-- the East India Company if I remember right.
Then some marketing genuses figured out how to get amateurs to volunteer to be fodder.
How many time are we going to hear the same story... what a bunch of nits.
Up, down, up, down... what a joke. It's all baked in the cake anyways.
We probably should start singing..Someone left the cake out in the rain!!
Ron Paul for President 2012!!!!!!!! he wants to Audit the federal reserve and get rid of them all together, restore sound money,the war on drugs is a war on the Amrican people more have died from their prescription drugs and their raids killed inocent people, end the wars, end the patriot act that vilolates you're rights, end militarism around the world use that money here in our country, he has never received money from corporations and most of all the establishment fears him they have their controlled media attack him because they are scared, if that is not a sign that they don't controll him like the rest of the puppet electies I don't know what is.
The quality of reporting with regard to the stock and bond markets has always been terrible. Articles are predictably littered with remarks that investors are either "disappointed" or "optimistic." The picture painted of the investment community and investors by these reporters is one of a moronic mass of sheep that is either chronically frightened or easily lured. The fact is that the investment markets are usually not markets where investors are in for the long haul. They try to game the system looking for either short term gains or opportunities to capitalize on the misfortunes of others.
It is not the fear of what might happen in Europe that is driving the market up and down like a seesaw; it is the changing tide of individual opinions about what market participants as a whole think about the likelihood of making or losing money. Any action by a group of governments has already been discounted by market participants long ago. They don't watch Europe; they watch their fellow investors.
I wish for once that market reporters would have the courage to tell the simple truth that investing in active markets is part gamblinig, part psychology, and part brinksmanship. Once that story gets out, perhaps the glossy veneer of Wall Street will be rubbed off enough for people to make sense of what takes place there.
Tiresome. Over and over and over. Try actually analyzing and reporting, rather than cutting and pasting the same garbage day after day.
Ron Paul for President 2012!!!!!!!! he wants to Audit the federal reserve and get rid of them all together, restore sound money,the war on drugs is a war on the Amrican people more have died from their prescription drugs and their raids killed inocent people, end the wars, end the patriot act that vilolates you're rights, end militarism around the world use that money here in our country, he has never received money from corporations and most of all the establishment fears him they have their controlled media attack him because they are scared, if that is not a sign that they don't controll him like the rest of the puppet electies I don't know what is.
If "investors cheered" that pi$$y little bit of a little less bad news, then they truly are the morons that I think they are. They deserve to lose every last dime they dump in the casino, I mean stock market.
Yep, it's manipulated.
It is so amusing to see this topic about the stock market's ups and downs. The stock headlines that run every day are so uninventive and boring. It is like the financial editor is too lazy to come up a good headline and rather chooses to pick one form a bunch of cliche one liners. I uses the same ones over and over and over and over.
Would anyone think it is possible to send a message to any honest traders to ensure the stock market is alert by utilizing their financial wisdom to make sure the stock market moves sideways until a practical solution from a panel of trusted financial advisors arrived at a better solution to stablize the economy and stablilize interest rates? Perhaps by suggesting fixed rates 7 year mortgages? Sorry just "trying" to help. On another note, do you think its a good time to buy a house in the northeast?
Bank of America charges $5 a month for debit card use and many people dump their accounts with that bank. Go figure. Education Nation thinks children should be educated. Maybe when the teachers believe all students not just one student in their classroom is successful then the teacher is successful. Maybe it is time to close all banks that are failing. That is what used to happen and it was a successful move for the consumer. Now if we just get congress to be real civil servants we will have real change and hope. Why is it that congress gives themselves raises when they have not paid any money into their retirement but they cannot give retired people on Social Security a cost of living increase when they have put money into the system their whole lives.
And yesterday, everything was looking peachy! My fellow Americans, we are in a recession, we never left the first one. If you have a job, you are lucky, if you still own your house, you are lucky. I think this mess is going to take a long time to resolve.
Just think..if 1000 billion dollars make a trillion dollars...and we decide to pay our debt off at 2 billion dollars a week fifty weeks of each year we would pay down 100 billion a year, X's 10 years= 1 trillion paid back. If we have borrowed 14 trillion and pay it back at 2 billion a week it will only take 140 years to do so. I haven't taken into account any interest we need to pay. See we just need to cut 100 billion a year from our budget and in 140 years we'll be free from debt again!