The markets witnessed another see-saw week but ended in the green on Friday to break the streak of losses. European debt fears from the previous week carried over to Monday and continued to spook the US markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 130.78 points or 1.1%. The S&P 500 stock index fared worse, losing 1.2%, with technology and energy stocks weighing on the index.  The dollar strengthened on Monday against major currencies as word of slowing Chinese manufacturing hurt the Australian dollar and more Fitch downgrades in Europe hurt the euro.  US Treasury’s were also the beneficiaries of the nervous market.

Tuesday was much of the same and major indices recorded losses again.  The only bright sector was energy with a positive report out from Goldman Sachs raising their estimates on West Texas Intermediate crude oil to $108 per barrel from the prior estimate of $100 per barrel.   The analyst also raised …

Since most investors do not have time to dig down in to economic numbers it can be confusing when the headlines come out that imply a “solid recovery”, for example, in the markets or the economy and tout things like initial jobs claims falling.  Remember the “green shoots” - where did they go?

First, jobs numbers are generally revised every month and it is difficult for the average investor to see a pattern and verify that the economy is indeed improving or not.  It is also a “lagging” indicator.  Jobs historically have recovered long after an economy has come out of a recession. This time, while economists are cheering that jobless numbers have been declining in the last few months, there are other macroeconomic factors that may lead to a slowing of hiring later this year, namely the situation in Japan, oil prices, Libya and the unrest in the Middle East and the continuing debt problems …

The markets struggled all week only to end with the third consecutive week of losses.  Even the initial public offering of LinkedIn which rose $49.25 or 109% during Thursday’s trading session did not spill over into the overall market sentiment.

European fears were not quelled last weekend and the market traded lower on Monday on fears of slowing global economic growth. Large cap technology companies, Microsoft and Cisco Systems, dragged on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Yahoo which erased 4.5% of its share value.  NASDAQ OMX Group and Intercontinental Exchange walked away from its bid to buy NYSE Euronext due to regulatory issues in the U.S. and NYSE Euronext’s shares fell $5.16 or 12.62% to start the week. By Tuesday, the company was looking for a new partner in the form of the Deutsche Borse AG.

Technology was the culprit again with markets closing lower Tuesday.  This time it was Hewlett Packard that spurred fears of a …

While the week started with a slump in the European markets as a result of a downgrade by S&P of Greece’s credit rating US stock markets were able to move higher.  A rebound in commodity prices from the prior week’s sell off led shares of Dow Jones components Alcoa, Chevron and Exxon Mobil higher. The S&P 500 index also gained a half a percent to start the week at 1346.29 largely on the back of higher oil prices.  Concerns about the situation in Greece hit the euro hard against most currencies but the gain in oil prices kept the US dollar in check against the euro which had declined 4.6% against the US currency since the prior Wednesday.

Tuesday brought merger and acquisition news which rallied the US markets with Microsoft announcing the acquisition of Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion!  Strong earnings news from Dean Foods and Triumph Group propelled their share prices forward …