Stocks Sink in First Week of 08

Stocks tumbled on Friday after a much weaker than expected jobs report triggered fears the U.S. economy will slip into recession. The Dow lost nearly 2%, the S&P 500 lost 2.5%, and the Nasdaq lost nearly 4%, with credit market jitters also weighing on investors.

Non-farm payrolls rose 18,000 in December, the worst report in more than four years, and the unemployment rate rose to 5%, from 4.7% last month.

The Iowa caucus took place last night, with two big winners emerging – Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee.

AZZ Inc.
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was the second biggest gainer on the NYSE today, after the company reported Q3 net profit rose, and increased FY08 guidance (read more).

PetroChina
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rose after the company was upgraded by Goldman Sachs (read more).

Wendy’s
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reported same-store sales were weak in Q4 (read more), while Sonic
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reported strong Q1 results (read more).

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Market Snapshot

Dow

-256.54 12800.18

NASDAQ

-98.03 2504.65

S&P 500

-35.53 1411.63

Strongest/Weakest Industry Groups

Strongest Industries

% Change

Weakest Industries

% Change
Building Materials Wholesale
+0.72%
Recreational Goods, Other
-8.25%
Diversified Utilities
+0.18%
Residential Construction
-7.44%
Electric Utilities
+0.08%
Regional – Southeast Banks
-7.06%

Economic
News

Non-farm Payrolls (Dec): Actual 18K, Consensus 70K

Factory Orders (Nov): Actual 1.5%, Consensus 1.0%