Oil

Despite European markets sliding and IBM’s earnings miss weighing on the Dow, the major benchmarks continued upwards from Friday’s gains and were all in the green ahead of Apple’s quarterly earnings.

U.S. benchmarks rebounded today following European indexes higher and after a number of positive earnings reports including Morgan Stanley, General Electric, Honeywell and Schlumberger.  Markets were further buoyed by better than expected housing starts which saw a 6.3% rise in September.

U.S. markets picked up where they left off yesterday opening lower despite better than expected initial jobless claims data.  Stocks began climbing after St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard commented that the Fed should delay the end of its quantitative easing program.

After sharp losses early Thursday, stocks reversed course as traders reacted positively to comments from Federal Reserve officials.

The equity markets sold off following a clobbering of the major European indexes with significant intraday losses across the U.S. benchmarks.  Lower than expected results on retail sales and PPI combined with the report of a second health care worker infected with Ebola pushed stocks lower while the VIX volatility index hit its highest point since December 2011.  An afternoon rebound saw the major indexes well off their lows or into positive territory.

Stocks pared significant losses Wednesday, but still closed deep in negative territory, as disappointing economic reports reignited growth worries.

If you were long the market the past week, it was most definitely a stomach turner.

Stocks continued a volatile run Thursday as concerns over global growth ignited a sharp selloff.

Better than expected initial jobless claims data was not enough to overcome a wave of negative sentiment as the markets gave up Wednesday’s gains following pessimistic comments by European Central Bank president Mario Draghi. The Energy sector was particularly hard hit as crude oil process continued to sink lower.

While crude oil continued its downward slide on EIA Inventories, stocks which had been bouncing back and forth earlier got a major boost after the FOMC Minutes showed the Fed could be more cautious in raising rates on continuing economic weakness concerns.

Stocks fell for the second day ahead of tomorrow’s Fed notes and after the International Monetary Fund released their World Economic Outlook report which downgraded the growth outlook for Europe and Japan and warned on the market impact of raising interest rates and geopolitical unrest.

With the major benchmark indexes coming off two weeks of losses, stocks opened higher following Friday’s rally but despite there being no new data, the markets slid into negative territory in the late morning ahead of third quarter earnings and continuing interest rate jitters.

The markets were nearly all in the red as the Hong Kong political protests continued for the sixth day and the first case of Ebola in the United States was confirmed in Texas. The slightly better than expected ADP Jobs Report was offset by weaker than expected ISM Manufacturing data which sent the markets down to their session lows.

In another volatile day for Wall Street, stocks recovered some of their losses but remained solidly in the red Monday amid global worries and questions over interest rates.

Wall Street dove deep into the red Thursday as traders went on defense and fled to the bond market amid geopolitical strife.

Stocks snapped their three day losing streak following a surprise surge in in August home sales which jumped 18% from the prior period to the highest level since May 2008.  Gains accelerated even more following commentary by Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans’ call for patience before enacting any interest rate increases.

US equity markets extended their losses Tuesday after the United States and its allies launched a series of airstrikes against militant groups in Syria.  Downbeat European economic data and new Treasury Department regulations aimed at closing tax inversion opportunities pressured the markets lower for the third day.

There’s been a big jump in the price of oil, which now tops $107 a barrel, on violence in Iraq, and it’s affecting what you pay at the gas pump.

There’s been a big jump in the price of oil, which now tops $107 a barrel, on violence in Iraq, and it’s affecting what you pay at the gas pump.

Markets are in a severe state of confusion – acting out on a variety of “what if’s” and tall tales yet not realizing that nothing yet has actually changed.