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Obama Wars Title: Stocks slump on debt, job woes Stocks slump on debt, job woes By Alexandra Twin, senior writerFebruary 4, 2010: 3:44 PM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks tumbled Thursday, with the Dow and S&P 500 near 3-month lows, amid fears of sovereign debt woes in Europe and a rise in weekly jobless claims ahead of Friday's big monthly employment report. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost 244 points, or 2.4%, with 15 minutes left in the session. The S&P 500 index (SPX) fell 30 points, or 2.8%. Both indexes were on track to close at the lowest points since Nov. 6. Nasdaq composite (COMP) fell 59 points, or 2.7%, and was on track to close at the lowest point since Nov. 30. Debt woes propelled the dollar to a more than seven-month high versus the euro, which in turn pummeled dollar-traded commodities such as oil and gold. Treasury prices spiked, lowering yields, in a classic flight-to-safety move. Meanwhile, the VIX (VIX), Wall Street's fear gauge, spiked 18%, suggesting investor nervousness was increasing. "A surprise rise in weekly jobless claims ahead of tomorrow's non-farm payrolls report in combination with the sovereign debt issue has got people a bit spooked today," said Mikel Keifer, vice president at Jurika Mills & Keifer. Keifer said concerns about Greece's debt problems have been in play for a while, but now Spain, Portugal and Ireland are joining the fray. Reports of labor unrest and political problems in the troubled nations are adding to the nervousness. "The worries are coming more to the forefront as market participants wonder if these countries will be able to refinance the debt," Keifer said. The stronger dollar sent oil and gold prices lower, and stocks such as Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) and Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500) sliding. With energy one of the biggest sectors in the S&P 500, the selloff in the sector dragged on the broader market. Weaker-than-expected labor market reports on both Wednesday and Thursday also played a role, creating jitters ahead of Friday's January jobs report. "The market is turning its attention to the jobs data and it doesn't like what it's seeing," said Matt King, chief investment officer at Bell Investment Advisors. Commodity prices slip on recovery doubts Rally loses steam: Stocks rallied in the last 9 months of 2009 as investors dug back in after a brutal start to the year. The S&P 500 gained 65% between the 12-year lows hit on March 9 and year-end. That advance continued up until around Jan. 19 of this year. But between that Jan. 19 high and the end of January, the S&P 500 lost just short of 7%. "The market is in a pessimistic mood today, but this is also an extension of the correction we saw in late January," King said. "We saw a 7% decline, but we probably need to see double-digits (in percentage) before the selloff is over." 0:00 /3:37800,000 more lost jobs Jobs: The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment rose to 480,000 last week from a revised 472,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected 455,000 new claims. Continuing claims, the number of Americans receiving benefits for a week or more, rose to 4,602,000 from 4,600,000 the previous week. Economists expected 4,581,000. The report was the lead-in to Friday's big January jobs report from the government. Employers are expected to have added 15,000 jobs to their payrolls last month after cutting 85,000 in the previous month. The unemployment rate, generated by a separate survey, is expected to hold steady at 10%. But the annual revision of U.S. payrolls is expected to show job losses during the recession were a lot more severe than previously thought. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to say that 824,000 more jobs were lost than previously thought during the April 2008 to May 2009 period. Factory orders: December factory orders rose 1% versus forecasts for a rise of 0.5%. Orders rose 1% in the previous month. Quarterly results: After the close of trading Wednesday, tech leader Cisco Systems (CSCO, Fortune 500) reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and earnings. Toyota Motor (TM) reported improved earnings in its most recent quarter and also lifted its estimates for the fiscal year ending in March. But the results did not include the impact of the huge recall of millions of vehicles due to gas pedal problems. Toyota estimates that the global recall could cost it as much as $2 billion. On Thursday, the government announced a formal probe into brake problems in the popular Prius hybrid. (Feds probing Prius brakes) Tick, tock: Real estate's time bomb World markets: In overseas trading, Asian markets tumbled and European markets ended lower. Commodities and the dollar: The dollar gained versus the euro on worries about sovereign debt in Greece, Spain and elsewhere in Europe. The dollar fell versus the Japanese yen. The dollar's strength against the euro dragged on oil and gold prices and individual stocks. COMEX gold for April delivery fell $49 to settle at $1,062.40 an ounce. U.S. light crude oil for March delivery fell $3.84 to settle at $73.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Bonds: Treasury prices rallied, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.61% from 3.70% late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. Market breadth was negative. On the New York Stock Exchange, losers beat winners by over nine to one on volume of 1.01 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners topped advancers by more than five to one on volume of 2.27 billion shares.
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Okay...lets see how long it takes to 1)Blame Bush...2)Blame Limbaugh...3)Blame Palin...
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