MIDDAY LUNCH

Dow 9940.89  -61.29, Nasdaq 2120.40  -5.03, S&P 1056.56  -6.55 

The Dow and S&P 500 recently have fallen to fresh session lows and the Dow has broken the psychological 10,000 level.  The drop comes on yesterday’s big sell-off on fears on downgrades on several countries debt.

Dollar Index is now up +0.6% to a fresh session high and a fresh six-month high, this has hurt stocks and commodity prices today.   Energy stocks have posted a -1.9% loss as oil prices come under increased pressure.

Oil is trading at $70.15 per barrel, down -4.1%, after a brief dip below the $70 per barrel mark.  Oil is now down approximately -15% from its 52-week high, which was set in January.

The Volatility Index, or VIX, has made its way back above its 200-day moving average. It is currently up +1.9% to 26.6.

The important nonfarm payroll report was released this morning.  The report showed that nonfarm payrolls fell by 20,000 in January, which was a disappointment since the consensus had called for the addition of 15,000 jobs during the month. The December report was also revised downward to reflect a loss of 150,000 jobs. The unemployment rate also fell to 9.7% from 10.0%.  

It’s important to note,  that even with additional job losses the unemployment rate declined.  This is because even though more people are losing their jobs, people that have been unemployed for longer periods of time have not stopped looking for employment.

Bright sports in the market include: Cisco Systems (CSCO) $23.62, +0.46 +1.99%, Starwood Hotels (HOT) $36.45, +1.17 +3.32%, and Tyson Foods (TSN) 14.69, +0.70 +5.00%