Stocks Plunge on Oil, Credit Worries

[marmar]

from the AP, via Yahoo:



Stocks Plunge on Oil, Credit Worries
Thursday November 1, 10:09 am ET
By Joe Bel Bruno, AP Business Writer


Stocks Plunge in Early Trading on Weak Consumer Spending Report, Another Jump in Oil Prices


NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street plunged in early trading Thursday as surging oil prices and slower growth in consumer spending erased optimism about the Federal Reserve's positive take on the economy just a day earlier. The Dow Jones industrials skidded more than 200 points.

Inflation fears revived as crude oil vaulted to a record $96 a barrel. Meanwhile, a report from the Commerce Department indicated consumers scaled back their spending in September as worries mounted about a worsening housing market and further credit market turmoil.

That combination led investors to retreat from Wednesday's rally, in which the Dow climbed 137 points after the Fed, while cutting interest rates a quarter point, said the economy had weathered the summer's credit crisis. The assessment put temporarily put to rest Wall Street's concerns that tighter credit was crippling the economy.

But the Fed also warned that inflation remained a concern, and oil's ascent raised the prospect not only that the Fed might stop cutting rates, but that it might actually consider raising rates.

Stocks also moved lower after Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's biggest oil company, posted a second-straight retreat in quarterly profit for the first time in five years. Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., the two biggest U.S. banks, were downgraded by CIBC on worries about the credit markets -- causing financial stocks to tumble.

The Dow plunged 217.04, or 1.56 percent, to 13,712.97.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was off 25.73, or 1.66 percent, at 1,523.65, while the Nasdaq composite index dropped 39.96, or 1.40 percent, to 2,819.16.

Investors pulling money out of stocks turned to the safe haven of the Treasury market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 4.41 percent from 4.47 percent late Wednesday. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071101/wall_street.html

[napi21]

1. Well, those idiots who are worried about consumer spending are

upset by Sept. spending, wait till they see the LACK of spending for the Christmas season! Instead of being so dependant on the average consumer continuing to support them while THEIR companies consistantly screw them, they should look to their own! People are afraid to buy toys for their kids because of all the recalls; we have far less $$ to spend because of THEIR greedy oil boys; YOU think it's just terrific that all your executives are making 500%+ more than they're paying their employees who actually do the work; greedy speculators spent lots of $$ on overinflated property in an effort to get rich quick; and the historically conservative banks opened the flood gates of money to many who couldn't possibly repay their loans.

Go look in your OWN HOUSE Wall Street, and clean up your own mess!