Word on the Street
The red ink is still flowing over at Southwest Airlines (LUV). The airline posted a $16 million loss for the third-quarter. Standard & Poor's Ratings Services was forced to cut down its long-term rating for Southwest Airlines to BBB from BBB-plus due to the loss.
Goldman Sachs (GS) is still riding high on its cash cow. The investment bank said that it made $3.03 billion during the third quarter. Goldman's earnings were not the only topic being discussed on The Street. People have already started whispering about the $23 billion that the company has supposedly set aside to pay bonuses. Despite the better-than-expected results, shares of GS still declined and here's why .
Who Really Will Pay for Goldman Sachs' $23 Billion in New Bonuses
The Goldman Sachs Empire Strikes Back
The jobs market received another piece of good news. The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level in nine months. Economists were actually expecting claims to rise 4,000 to 525,000. As always, there is some good news and bad news related to this report.
Video -- Creating Jobs in America
Building the Labor Force with Forced Labor
Inflation is remaining in check for now. The latest reading showed a smaller rise in energy prices, which resulted in a slower increase in overall prices in September. All is well with jobless claims and inflation, but the foreclosure rate is a different story. The number of homeowners pulled into the foreclosure process increased by 5 percent during the third quarter as a government program to help borrowers failed to make a difference.
In other housing news, mortgage rates increased for the first time in four weeks. Rates for 30-year home loans have inched up 4.92 percent this week, up from 4.87 percent a week earlier.
Nokia (NOK) may be the largest mobile phone maker, but its latest earnings report still has some investors concerned. The tech-giant reported that it loss $1.36 billion in the third quarter due to write downs and a decline in global sales. This was the company's first net loss since 1996.
One of the key informants who assisted the U.S. build a case against UBS (UBS) and tax-evading citizens is seeking a payout after he pulls his time in prison time.
Other Juicy Tidbits
Do you ever wonder if a stock is going to go up or down? Don't we all! Check out this game to see how good you are. Given a random historical stock chart of an unnamed S&P 500 company, choose to buy and sell as time advances to see if you can beat the market.
What Happens If the Dollar Crashes -- Trade wars could break out. Overexposed banks might collapse. And that's just for starters
Wall Street's Bonus Hypocrisy -- Charlie Gasparino on how banks are rewarding themselves while still gambling with America's money.
Has Google (GOOG) gotten its mojo back ?
State governments should think like marketers , not administrators. | 
