(As of 7:10 am PST)
Yesterday’s sell-off produced
the largest single day drop in the markets in more than two months and sent both
the Dow and S&P 500 further into negative territory for the year. The
biggest market movers yesterday can be attributed to a combination of factors
led by the European Central Bank announcing a smaller than expected expansion
of its monetary stimulus program and Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen
strongly hinting at moves of a U.S. interest rate hike in mid-December. Today
the markets are rallying in response to mostly positive employment data that
came out after the opening bell. November payroll data showed that the economy
added 211,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate remained at 5%. Both
September and October numbers were revised upward. The employment news gives
the Fed a strong case for raising rates later this month. Investors will also
have to digest some news from the OPEC semiannual meeting in Vienna today where
they decided to raise the production ceiling to 31.5 million barrels of oil a
day. The announcement sent oil prices tumbling back to sub $40 per barrel
levels. International markets are playing off yesterday’s losses on Wall Street
with Asian indexes finishing down for the day, while Europe added to its losses
from yesterday as well.
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