By: Joanna Alexander Courtney Potter Will Prout Kathy Ratajczak.

FINANCIAL NEWS BRIEFOCT. 3 ~OCT. 7, 2011

By:Joanna AlexanderCourtney Potter

Will ProutKathy Ratajczak

Welcome toFourth Quarter

2011

Enjoy the ride!

Monday Oct. 3

Stocks Sink pushing S&Pto new low for the year!

Dow 10,655.30 -258.08 -2.36% Nasdaq 2,335.83 -79.57 -

3.29% S&P 500 1,099.23 -32.19 -2.85%

http://finance.yahoo.com/news

But isn’t that surprising? Why?

• The Institute of Supply Management announced on Monday that its index of factory activity rose to 51.6 last month from 50.6 in August;

• A separate report from the Commerce Department showed an unexpected rebound in construction spending in August

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Manufacturing-sector-grows

So What contributed to the drop?

• Concerns Greece is closer to defaulting;• Senate panel found that home-health care firms gamed the Medicare system;• Slowdown in Venture-Backed I.P.O.’s;

• Global Markets Suffer Worst Quarter since 2008 over fear of Global Recession• Fear of “contagion” in the financial system http://finance.yahoo.com.news

Tuesday Oct. 4

Late surge erases earlier losses on Wall Street

Dow 10,808.71 +153.41 +1.44%Nasdaq 2,404.82 + 68.99 +2.95%S&P 500 1,123.95 + 24.72 +2.25%

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said economic recovery is “close to faltering”

• Important objective is to avoid fiscal action that could impede recovery

• Europe’s debt crisis poses “ongoing risks” to US economic growth

• Recent indicators point to likelihood of sluggish job growth ahead

• Inflation likely to remain subdued• Long term interest rates should

fall by .2 percentage points due to Fed’s September efforts http://beta.finance.yahoo.com/

news

Wednesday Oct. 5

Jobs picture remains fuzzy

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/05/news/economy/jobs_challenger_adp/index.htmhttp://best-cpa-accountant.com/archives/207

• Report announcing the addition of approximately 91,000 jobs was released to the public for the month of September 2011

• Report later revised to record the addition of 89,000 jobs

Who was the leader in creating jobs during this time period?• Small businesses employing 1-49 employees was the leader in

adding jobs during this time

Unemployment still remains steady at 9.1% despite job additions.

Wednesday Oct. 5• After a 7 year battle with

pancreatic cancer, Apple founder Steve Jobs passes away.

http://www.latestcnnnews.com/apples-ex-ceo-died-at-an-age-of-56.htmlhttp://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=AAPL&a=09&b=5&c=2011&d=09&e=5&f=2011&g=dhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/barack-obama-on-steve-job_n_997373.html

• What affect did Jobs’ death have on Apple’s stock price?• Relatively little

• Apple’s stock price rose from an opening price of $367.86 to a closing price of $378.25.

• How will the market respond to the slightly improved iPhone 4s?• Seemingly not that different to the iPhone 4

• Will Apple continue to be the innovative giant it has made itself without Jobs’ influence?

“Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it. The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.”

- President Barack Obama

Thursday Oct. 6

Obama recognizes Wall Street protestors

Occupy Wall Street started on September 17th

Protestors are in New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco,

Denver, Chicago, and Philadelphia In a press conference on Thursday, Obama acknowledged the protestors proving further that they are gaining

national recognitionhttp://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/story/2011-10-06/wall-streetprotests-obama/50679970/1

What are the protestors trying to accomplish?

Since it started more and more people have joined the cause

In late September, Labor Unions joined the cause further expanding

the protestOccupy Wall Street has received

criticism for not having a set of goals they want to accomplish

Although they are unorganized they are gaining more recognition

everyday

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/occupywallstreet-signs-an_n_998099.html?ref=occupy-wall-street#s393086&title=Members_of_trade

30 Year Mortgage Rate Hits Historic Low

Interest rates fall to 3.94% This is the lowest rate to date

NOW is the best time to purchase a home

Economic conditions are preventing people from purchasing homes

15 year fixed rate mortgages also reached record low of 3.26%

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/06/real_estate/mortgage_rates/index.htm?section=money_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_topstories+%28Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Friday October 7, 2011

Late Wednesday night 205-page draft of “Volcker Rule” was leaked via the web

Paul Volcker – Fed Chairman from 1979-87

Do you know what the Volcker Rule is?

Volcker Rule Provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall

Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

Volcker Rule aims to restrict proprietary trading

What is proprietary trading? “Trading by banks for their own profit…

encouraged financial institutions to take excessive risks.” (WSJ Friday 10/7/2011)

Why the need for the Volcker Rule Repeal of Glass-Steagall Act Increased speculation by large US banks

largely fueled by proprietary trading Financial crisis of 2007-2008

$15.8 billion in losses due to proprietary trading during the crisis (WSJ Friday 10/7/2011)

Obama signing Dodd-Frank Act - July 21,

2010

Major US indices up between 2 – 3.5% for the week

Major US Index Comparison (Oct 3 – Oct 7)

Source: Yahoo Finance