The markets declined today fueled by economic concerns and disappointing unemployment and payroll cut data despite passage of the highly debated bailout plan. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 157.47 points or 1.50% to settle at 10,325.38. On the week the Dow tumbled nearly 815 points or 7.31%. The Nasdaq fell 1.48% or 29.33 points in today’s session to close up at 1,947.39. On the Week the Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 200 points, or 9.31% fueled by disappointing performances from technology which took a beating on the week. The S&P500 closed today’s session at 1,099.23, dropping off 1.35% or 15.05 points. For the Week the S&P dropped nearly 110 points, or 9.10%. The 10 year Treasury note dropped slightly to a yield of 3.6440%.
The Dollar had a strong day against the Euro, and is currently trading at 0.7262 vs. the Euro. If there is any bright spot in our current economic and financial crisis, I would have to say the Dollars relative strength, which will definitely lend a helping hand to the recovery of our economy. Against the Yen today, the Dollar slide slightly and is currently trading at 105.32 vs. the Yen. Crude oil fell slightly again today, dropping to $93.05 per barrel, falling 0.98% or $0.92 per barrel. Gold also fell today, shedding $11.30 or 1.35% to settle at $827.70 per ounce. It will be interesting to see how crude oil and gold continue to trade as more certainty and information about the government’s intervention and plan to fix the current crisis is factored into investor’s actions.
Congress approved the $700 billion government bailout plan today, and then passed on the bill to President Bush, who quickly signed the bill. President Bush stated, “We have acted boldly to help prevent the crisis on Wall Street from becoming a crisis in communities across our country.” President Bush also added that our economy will continue to face many serious challenges. The vote in the House was 263-171, ending two weeks of mayhem in Congress and on Wall Street over the proposed bailout. The bill gives the Treasury Department $700 billion to purchase bad mortgage securities that are weighing down the balance sheets of the financial firms that own them. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson promised to start using his new authority quickly, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke added that the central bank would work closely with the administration during this “Wall Street Repair”.
The News of the passing of the bailout plan was overshadowed by the largest job cuts since 2003. The Labor Department announced today that payrolls were slashed by 159,000 in the month of September, more than double the jobs cut in the month of August. This is the ninth straight month of job losses. 760,000 jobs have been cut this year so far.
