Market Summary

Wall Street plunged sharply Thursday as disappointing jobless claims compiled premarket anxiety over European debt fears. The Labor Department reported that claims for unemployment benefits rose by 8,000 to 480,000 last week. It was the fourth increase in the past five weeks. Economists were looking for a drop and it was not a good sign for those hoping to see a net jobs gain tomorrow.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 268.37, or 2.6 percent, to 10,002.18. The blue chips are off 723 points, or 6.7 percent, since their January 15 month high. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 34.17, or 3.1 percent, to 1,063.11, its steepest drop in almost a year. The tech heavy Nasdaq composite index slid 65.48, or 3 percent, to 2,125.43. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 20.98, or 3.4 percent, to 589.68.

It’s Not Just About Equities

Investors fled to safety and quality as the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.61 percent from 3.71 percent. The rise in high grade debt sent the greenback sky high as well.

On the NYMEX, crude saw its biggest one day decline since the fall, losing $3.84 to settle at $73.14 per barrel. Economic fears are rampant.

January’s Employment Situation…Dow Breaking 10K?

This decline doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has a pulse. Here at ILive I have been pushing my 9700 target for the blue chips. The good news is that after briefly trading below 10K, the DJIA did close above that mark, delaying the inevitable.

Tomorrow’s jobs figure is going to be a wake up call to many who think we will see a net job gain. There is just not a demand out there right now for labor. Workers are being more productive, while spending isn’t increasing. We lost 85,000 jobs in December, I suspect we will be around 27,000 in the red tomorrow.