Markets drop on worries about jobs data

Dow sank in late day trading, finishing down 139, decliners over advancers 5-2 & NAZ dropped 37.  The Financial Index fell 1+ to 215.  The MLP index was off 2 to the 403s & the REIT index rose 1+ to the 263s.  Junk bond funds were mixed to higher & Treasuries slipped back.  Oil fell & gold tumbled the most in more than 4 months to below $1700 as US payrolls in Oct rose more than forecast, easing pressure on the Federal Reserve to expand monetary stimulus.

AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)

Treasury yields:

U.S. 3-month	0.091%
U.S. 2-year	0.307%
U.S. 10-year	1.803%

CLZ12.NYM

...Crude Oil Dec 12

...84.99

... 2.10

(2.4%)

Existing-home sales, a market indicator, will probably slow in the Northeast for the rest of 2012 as superstorm Sandy disrupts deals, the National Association of Realtors said.  “Closings may be delayed, and a lot occur at the end of the month,” Walter Molony, a spokesman for the group said.  “In theory, you wouldn’t see the impact just in October sales. You’d see it in subsequent months.”  An index of pending home sales for Sep jumped 26%in the Northeast, the biggest gain of any region, the Realtors association reported.  Contracts to buy existing homes increased 15% nationwide, the 17th consecutive increase from a year earlier.  Existing homes sold at an annual pace of 4.75M nationwide in Sep, up 11% from a year earlier & the 15th consecutive increase on an annual basis.  The Northeast accounted for 12% of US sales in Sep.

Sandy to Slow October Home Sales in the U.S. Northeast

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Photo:   Yahoo

Delta Air Lines said that a key revenue measure improved in Oct, helped by corp travel & cancellations in the wake of superstorm Sandy.  The airline, which canceled more than 3½K flights last month because of the storm, said Sandy had hurt Oct revenue by $45M & likely shaved about $20M from profit . It estimated that the storm's effect on Nov revenue & profit would be less than Oct.  Unit revenue, a measure of pricing power & how full planes are, rose 5.5% in Oct from a year earlier. The cancellations caused a 2% reduction in systemwide capacity in Oct from a year ago.  DAL said the improvement in unit revenue, also known as passenger revenue per available seat mile, was about one percentage point higher than it would have been without the impact of the hurricane.  Cancellations tend to help unit revenue as more travelers are put on remaining flights.  Its percentage of seats filled systemwide in Oct was 84.6%, up from 82.8% a year earlier.  There will be hug cost form this storm & this is an early indication.  The stock was unchanged.

• Delta's Key Revenue Measure up in October, but Storm Hurt Reuters

Delta Air Lines (DAL)

Market leader Apple tanked once again, even as it introduced the new iPad.  It seems it has been able to find any friends since it peaked in Sep.  The stock dropped 20 today to 575.

Apple (AAPL)

Dow pulled back 14 in this shortened week.  There was a fair amount of news but it came in mixed as the negative effects from Sandy seemed to dominate.  Europe will get more attention next week as it comes under the spotlight again.  The near terms effects form Sandy will be negative, although longer term rebuilding should help the economy.  Then there  is the fiscal cliff which keeps getting closer with no resolution in sight, the euro mess & slower growth in emerging countries.  So far, the stock markets are taking it all in stride.

Dow Jones Industrials