The biggest fears over the past two months have been another US recession and the uncertainty in Europe over the sovereign debt crisis.  Investors have had a lot on their plates to consider including domestic corporate earnings and economic reports as well as headlines from Europe.  This week, investors were delighted to see earnings reports and economic releases that were better than expected, for the most part.  There was also some progress in Europe, while not solving the debt crisis that appears to have staved off any further deterioration in the Eurozone financial system, at this time.  The S&P 500 Index gained 3.78% (46.84 points) and the DJIA rose 3.58% (422.32 points) for the week.   

Investors shifted their focus back to the US on Monday after weeks of concentration on European events.  Decent earnings reports were encouraging and not much attention …

Investors remain incredibly headline sensitive as progress continues to be made toward a resolution of the debt crisis in the Eurozone.  Any skepticism that creeps in crumbles confidence and drive stocks lower.  However, this week there were several positive corporate quarterly earnings releases as well as encouraging US economic reports.  The DJIA had two days of triple-digit swings in opposite directions.  The major US indices were up one day, down the next and the S&P 500 Index finished the week basically flat from 1,244.58 last Friday to 1,238.25 on October 21.  The DJIA closed the week ahead at 11,808.79, up from 11.644.49 a week earlier.  

Marking the steepest decline since October 3rd, the major US indices slid into negative territory in early trading and the dip accelerated toward the end of the day.  The S&P 500 Index closed at 1,200.86, down …

As long as progress continues to be made in Europe, US investors are comfortable enough to turn their focus back to the domestic economy and corporate earnings as the third quarter reporting season gets underway.  The S&P 500 Index gained 69.12 points for the week, up almost 6% and the DJIA rose 541.37 for the week, up almost 5%.  The positive momentum was fueled by events in Europe early in the week and as daily news continued to be positive and forward-moving, investors shifted their focus to economic reports which continue to confirm that there was not an economic contraction in the third quarter.   

Hope continued to buoy markets on Monday as Sarkozy and Merkel pledged to devise a plan to resolve the eurozone debt crisis.  The S&P 500 Index gained 39.43 points to 1,194.89 and the DJIA rose 330.06 points …

The DJIA managed to gain 189.74 point for the week ended October 7th, 2011 and the S&P 500 Index was up 24.04, despite a rough start.  Encouraging domestic jobs data and hopes of progress and cooperation in Europe buoyed the markets for the week.  On Thursday, there was sad news of the untimely passing of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple.   

On Monday, the first trading day of the 4th quarter, all the major US indices finished in the red.  The S&P 500 Index lost 32.19 points to close at 1,099.23 and the DJIA fell 258.08 points to 10,655.30.  The NASDAQ lost 3.3% and the Russell 2000 fell more than 5%.  Most of the sell off occurred in late day trading, lead by a precipitous decline in the financial sector as investors fled the equity markets in favor of less risky investments …