Stock Market Blog -Oct 3rd

This week the market was flat, though we closed out the month of September with huge gains. Most people were expecting September to be a losing month. The US Dollar continued its decline, while Gold continued to rally. Oil was up as well.

GMCR and SAY prices plummeted this week!

New all time highs: GLD & SLV! Also CMI, CTSH, GDX, IBM, SLW, TTM, YUM.


New unemployment claims fell to 453,000 (chart).
This week, two more banks were shutdown by the FDIC! (list).

Next week: (Economic reports link). On Friday we'll get the all important monthly jobs report. Also earnings season kicks off once again with Alcoa reporting on Thursday.

Market commentary: The market seems to be stalling at these levels. Next week we start off a potentially volatile month and another round of quarterly earnings. We got a nice rally with the last round of earnings in July. Maybe we'll see a repeat performance. We've broken the downtrend channel that started in May, and it's possible we are now starting a new uptrend channel.

Options expiration in 2 weeks. The market could stay up and foil the bears again!

Commodities (charts):
Oil prices rocketed up, closing near $81.50 per barrel.
Natural Gas was mostly flat, closing just under $4.00.
Gold closed at an all time high again, around $1316.
The US Dollar index continued down, closing just over 78.
The 30 year Bond was up, closing just over $133.

Silver is at 30 year highs!

News:
Dollar Continues 4-Month Slide, Hits 6-Month Low Against Euro
Biggest Surprises This Quarter: Priceline Up 97%
Get ready for an epic bull market
How one automated trade led to stock market flash crash
Rates on fixed-rate mortgages fall
Corporations leveraging up at record pace
Banks Keep Failing, No End in Sight
Gold is the final refuge against universal currency debasement