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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (43802)	11/2/2001 9:11:55 AM
From: Dealer	Respond to of 65232

M A R K E T .. S N A P S H O T -- Oct. jobs tumble; jobless rate 5.4% Microsoft reaches deal with government By Julie Rannazzisi, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 8:40 AM ET Nov 2, 2001 NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Stocks are set to take a breather Friday as investors digest a surge in the unemployment rate and a plunge in jobs during the month of October. The granddaddy of all economic reports revealed that a total of 415,000 nonfarm jobs were lost in October vs. the expected decline of 310,000. The jobless rate surged to 5.4 percent vs. the 5.2 percent that had been anticipated. But investors will also be reacting to news that the government has reached a settlement with Microsoft in the landmark antitrust case against the software monolith. The 18 states involved in the case are expected to ask for more time to review the agreement. The Dept. of Justice said the deal will impose a broad range of restrictions on Microsoft that'll halt its unlawful conduct and prevent similar actions in the future. Shares of the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq component (MSFT) lost 19 cents to $61.65 in trading before the official opening bell after rallying over 6 percent on Thursday in anticipation of a settlement. Remarkably, the futures markets improved slightly after the release of the horrendous job report. The December S&P 500 contract gave up 2.00 points, or 0.2 percent, and was trading about 5.60 points below fair value, according to HL Camp & Co. And Nasdaq futures shaved 4.50 points, or 0.4 percent, while the Dow Jones Indicative Index erased 29 points, or 0.3 percent, to 9,234. On the fund flow front, Trim Tabs estimates that all equity funds had outflows of $3.3 billion in the five business days ending Oct. 31 compared with outflows of $7.6 billion in the prior week. Equity funds that invest primarily in U.S. stocks had outflows of $2 billion vs. outflows of $5.5 billion in the prior week. Finally, bond funds had inflows of $1.9 billion compared with inflows of $1.5 billion the prior week. In the Treasury arena, long-dated government issues backpedaled after two sessions of mammoth gains. The 10-year Treasury note was off 12/32 to yield ($TNX) 4.28 percent while the 30-year government bond erased 20/32 to yield ($TYX) 4.84 percent. September factory orders are also on the data calendar and are projected to have tumbled 4.9 percent. Check economic calendar and forecasts. In the currency sector, the dollar lost 0.4 percent to 121.52 yen while the euro added 0.3 percent to 90.50 cents.