4:00PM New York, 10:00PM Frankfurt, 8:00AM Sydney

Global Markets Indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 211.10 or 1.62% to a close of 12,799.04, S&P 500 decreased 1.59% or 22.93 to 1,416.77, and Nasdaq Composite Index declined 34.66 or 1.33% to a close of 2,562.15. In Toronto TSX Composite decreased 179.19 or 1.33% to close at 13,280.58.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average, 2 closed higher, 28 closed lower, and none were unchanged.

AIG led the decliners in the index for the second day in a row with a loss of 5.5% followed by declines in American Express of 4.3%, in Intel of 3.1%, and in Verizon of 2.4%. General Motors and Caterpillar were the only two gainers in the index, rose with fractional gains.

Of the stocks in S&P 500, 98 closed higher, 398 fell, and 4 were unchanged. Forty three stocks fell more than 3% and twelve stocks increased 3% or more.

E*Trade led the gainers in the index with a rise of 11% followed by increases in Deer & company of 6%, in Target of 4.8%, in U.S. Steel of 4.4%, and in EDS of 4.3%. Patterson Companies led the decliners with a loss of 22% followed by declines in Pulte Homes of 12%, in XL Capital of 8%, in Countrywide of 7.1%, and in MBIA of 6.8%.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed down 155.60 or 2.50% to 6,070.90, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 125.38 or 2.28% to close at 5,381.30, and in Frankfurt DAX index decreased 111.89 or 1.47% to close at 7,518.42. In Zurich trading SMI declined 213.53 or 2.56% to close at 8,125.42.

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index declined 373.86 or 2.46% to close at 14,837.66, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index closed down 1,153.02 or 4.15% to 26,618.19, in Australia ASX 200 closed down 41.10 or 0.64% to close 6,384.30. India lost 3.52% or 678.18 to 18,602.62.

In South Korea Kospi Index decreased 65.25 or 3.49% to close at 1,806.99, Thailand closed down 22.47 or 2.71% to 807.58, and Indonesia edged lower 61.24 or 2.33% to 2,563.62.

In Latin Markets Peru led the decliners for the third day in a row with a loss of 2.5% followed by losses in Brazil of 2.81%, in Mexico of 2.15%, in Chile of 1.51%, and in Argentina of 1.32%. Venezuela fell 0.9% and Colombia declined 0.63%.

Bond Yields edged lower on 10-year U.S. bonds to 3.99% but closed at 4.02% and 30-year bonds decreased to 4.46%.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

Crude oil fell $1.37 after reaching a record high of $99.48, to close at $96.66 per barrel for a front month contract, up 45.00%. U.S. Department of Energy reported that at the end of the last week inventory of crude fell by 1.1 million barrels to 313.6 million barels, natural gas increased 7 cents to $7.55 per mBtu, and gasoline futures decreased 1.44 cents to close at 243.71 cents per gallon.

Gold edged higher $7.20 in New York trading to close at $798.60 per ounce, silver closed down 8 cents to $14.42 per ounce, and copper for front month delivery decreased 13.95 cents to 293.00 cents per pound and in London trading closed up $1.50 to $6,768.00.

Dollar edged lower against euro to $1.4828 and lower to 108.5855 yen.


2:00PM New York-Nordstrom Inc third quarter earnings rise 22% but company lowers profit forecast.

Nordstrom Inc (JWN: chart) reported third quarter sales increase of 5.3% to $1.97 billion compared with $1.87 billion posted in the year ago. Same-store sales increased 2.2 percent in the quarter from the last year.

The department store, however, lowered same-store sales guidance for the fourth quarter to flat from earlier estimates of a 2% to 3% gain, citing lower sales trends.

In September, the National Retail Federation warned that sales growth in the holiday shopping season would hit a five-year low.

Nordstrom said net income jumped 22% to $165.7 million from $135.67 million a year earlier. Earnings surged 30% to 68 cents per share from 52 cents per share last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial predicted profits of 52 cents per share.