Top 10 News Events This Week:
1. Tech titan and arguably the most visionary entrepreneur in recent history, Steve Jobs sadly passed away this week. Teary-eyed fans and investors alike mourned the loss in millions of heartfelt tributes. Despite the lofty position Jobs' creativity helped lift Apple to, many of these tributes considered "what could have been." While Apple did not specify the exact cause of the 56-year-old's death, Jobs had previously battled pancreatic cancer. Reports said Jobs private funeral took place Friday.
2. The always-highly-anticipated jobs report was issued Friday. Figures for September came in better-than-expected and, potentially more importantly, the two prior month readings were revised higher. Nonfarm payrolls rose 103,000 while private sector payrolls rose 137,000. The readings for August were revised from 0 to 57,000 and from 17,000 to 42,000, respectively. The unemployment rating was unchanged at 9.1%.
3. After the S&P 500 closed below support at 1,150 last Friday, stocks continued pushing lower Monday and Tuesday to officially break into bear market territory. Stocks, however, bounced very sharply Tuesday and continued higher Wednesday and Thursday. Friday the Dow closed down about 20 points. Despite the downside at the beginning of the week, stocks still closed nearly 2 percent higher.
4. Market fears reached somewhat of a near-term crescendo (hopefully) on Tuesday as concerns related to US banking sectors exposure to the Euro crisis began spiraling out of control. The most recent target has been Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS). As the rumor mill began to spin, CEO James Gorman told employees in an internal memo to "stay focused." Analysts got behind the stock later in the week. Goldman said fears are overblown and recommended buying Morgan Stanley calls. Analysts also jumped on After marking a fresh 52-week low at $11.58 on Tuesday, shares of Morgan Stanley bounced nearly 23 percent to close at $14.24 on Friday.
5. Apple's "Let's Talk iPhone" event was a bit of a disappointing this week as the big news from CEO Tim Cook was a reinvented iPhone 4, the "S", rather than a brand new iPhone 5. While the specs of the new device are certainly nice, Apple shares sold off for most of the session. The stock tumbled as much as $25 Tuesday afternoon only to bounce about $15 with the broader market into the close.
6. A fleet of European banks were downgraded this week as concerns about a rapidly spreading debt crisis overwhelmed investors. Dexia was the the most popular bank in this regard as rumors the bank would be left as a "bad bank" were heard all across the Street. While discussions still have kilometers to go, investor nerves -- if anything else -- have calmed.
7. Bankruptcy fears hit both Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) and AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR). Kodak shares plunged 50 percent last Friday just before the close as rumors were first heard. The stock bounced sharply (71%) on Monday as Eastman made a questionable coupon payment over the weekend. AMR shares fell 33 percent on Monday.
8. Shares of Pharmaceutical Product Development (Nasdaq: PPDI) rose more than 25 percent on Monday after Carlyle and H&P announced they would buy the company in a $3.9 billion deal.
9. Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) shares were extremely volatile this week as takeover chatter continued. The stock finished the week nearly 17 percent higher. The ole' Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) for Yahoo! rumor was even heard, although quickly dismissed.
10. Strong ISM manufacturing and construction data couldn't help stocks on Monday. Manufacturing for the month of September comes in at 51.6, vs. the economist estimate of 50.5. Construction spending for August rose 1.4 percent, sharply better than the 0.2 percent decline economists had been expecting.
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