Dow Plummets as Investors Remain Skeptical of Economy (DELL, PAR, & BA)

Despite the session’s promising start, the markets took a hit today. The morning trading was relatively positive after the Department of Labor reported that unemployment claims actually declined last week. However, the optimistic mood soon faded when a closer examination of the report seemed to indicate that the unemployment drop was mostly caused by seasonality. Investors continue to be skeptical of the economy, which was very evident during today’s trading. The Nasdaq fell 22.85 points while the Dow Jones dropped 74.25 points. Today also marked the first time the Dow has finished a session below 10,000 points since July. The S&P 500 also suffered a loss of 8.11 points and finished at 1,047.22. There was some interesting acquisition action today. Hewlett Packard (HPQ) and Dell (DELL) engaged in a bidding war for the storage company 3Par (PAR). In other corporate news, Boeing (BA) managed to impress traders with its announcement to bolster its China workforce in order to meet demands. The dollar continued to fall against the yen and euro.

VN:F [1.9.13_1145]