Stock Market Update -Feb 7th

We have now seen four straight weeks of losses, resulting in a 10% correction. I mentioned concerns about Greece last week, and sure enough the Euro dropped, the Dollar gained strength, and the market got spooked, causing the DOW to dip below 10,000. However we could see a pause in the selling next week (we saw a big reversal on Friday). The monthly payroll report on Friday showed a loss of 20,000 jobs and the unemployment rate at 9.7 percent.

MCD hit an all time high this week before reversing.
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New unemployment claims were higher than expected, coming in at 480,000.
And another bank was shutdown this week! (list).

Next week: Earnings season continues with reporting from DIS, KO, and S, among others. We could see a nice bounce in these companies if the market cooperates. Also scheduled to report are PNRA, CAKE, and CMG.

Market commentary:
The market reversed course on Friday, possibly signaling a brief rally to come. The sell-off will eventually resume however as it seems the bigger rally is over for now. Gold and Silver prices might dip one more time before resuming the up-trend (I expect Gold to approach the $1000 level before reversing course).

Commodities:
Oil prices were up, then fell, closing the week around $71 per barrel.
Natural Gas was up, closing around $5.50.
Gold prices were up and down, like Oil, closing around $1050.
The US Dollar index was up, closing near 80.50.
Bond prices rallied up to $119.50, as stocks tumbled further.


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