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U.S. retailers ring up dismal sales
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Stocks tumble in final hour because of anxiety over November employment report out today
By Tim Paradis
Associated Press
Published on Friday, Dec 05, 2008
NEW YORK: A period of relative calm on Wall Street ended Thursday as stocks tumbled in the final hour of trading on growing investor anxiety ahead of the government's November employment report coming today.
The major indexes each slid more than 2.5 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which dropped 216 points after rising in seven of the last eight sessions.
Investors are worried the employment report will show a further deterioration in the job market. Employers have already cut 1.2 million jobs in the first 10 months of the year, leaving the unemployment rate at a 14-year high of 6.5 percent. Economists expect the Labor Department will report that the jobless rate rose to 6.8 percent in November and that companies cut another 320,000 jobs.
''It's all about jobs and right now the outlook is pretty downbeat,'' said Alan Skrainka, chief market strategist with Edward Jones in St. Louis.
The pullback followed a decent run on Wall Street. Broad indexes like the Standard & Poor's 500 index have finished with gains in seven of the last nine sessions.
Thursday's selling, especially the final hour slide, fits in with the pattern of volatility that analysts have warned investors to expect as the market tries to recover from the devastating losses of the past few months.
The Dow industrials ended down 215.45, or 2.51 percent, at 8,376.24.
Bond prices rose again, sending yields to record lows as investors again sought the safety of government debt — even if the returns are meager. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.56 from 2.67 percent late Wednesday.
The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, fell to below 0.01 percent from 0.02 percent late Wednesday.
Light, sweet crude oil fell $3.12 to $43.67 a barrel. Crude, which soared to a record $147.27 in July, is at a four-year low.
NEW YORK: A period of relative calm on Wall Street ended Thursday as stocks tumbled in the final hour of trading on growing investor anxiety ahead of the government's November employment report coming today.
The major indexes each slid more than 2.5 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which dropped 216 points after rising in seven of the last eight sessions.
Investors are worried the employment report will show a further deterioration in the job market. Employers have already cut 1.2 million jobs in the first 10 months of the year, leaving the unemployment rate at a 14-year high of 6.5 percent. Economists expect the Labor Department will report that the jobless rate rose to 6.8 percent in November and that companies cut another 320,000 jobs.
''It's all about jobs and right now the outlook is pretty downbeat,'' said Alan Skrainka, chief market strategist with Edward Jones in St. Louis.
The pullback followed a decent run on Wall Street. Broad indexes like the Standard & Poor's 500 index have finished with gains in seven of the last nine sessions.
Thursday's selling, especially the final hour slide, fits in with the pattern of volatility that analysts have warned investors to expect as the market tries to recover from the devastating losses of the past few months.
The Dow industrials ended down 215.45, or 2.51 percent, at 8,376.24.
Bond prices rose again, sending yields to record lows as investors again sought the safety of government debt — even if the returns are meager. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.56 from 2.67 percent late Wednesday.
The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, fell to below 0.01 percent from 0.02 percent late Wednesday.
Light, sweet crude oil fell $3.12 to $43.67 a barrel. Crude, which soared to a record $147.27 in July, is at a four-year low.
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