-Online travel site operators clicking
-Starbucks sees strong like-for-like sales growth
-US jobs data better than expected

Dow Jones Industrial: -1.05%
Nasdaq Comp.: -1.26%
S&P 500: -0.95%

After opening firmer following better than expected non-farm payrolls data for October, stocks have turned back, with some traders closing positions ahead of next Tuesday's presidential election.

October data showed 171,000 jobs were added in the month, ahead of the 120,000 additions expected by the market. Furthermore, data for the previous two months was revised upwards significantly.

The unemployment rate did edge up to 7.9% in October from 7.8% in September, but that was due to an incerased rate of particpation in the labour force, which is a good thing.

Then why the sudden reversal in equities? As markets are sometimes wont to do, from time to time good economic figures are taken to signify that less economic stimulus will be forthcoming. That at least is what most pundits seem to be saying. As well, even if the "bill" for insurers from Sandy turns out to be modest, the degree of ecobomic disruption may be far larger some now hold. Finally, market commentary is now putting emphasis on the negative aspects of election uncertainty in the US.

As regards the first of those points, economists at Barclay´s Research seem to be right in pointing out that: "The labor market, in our view, is exhibiting good momentum heading into Q4, although we would not be surprised to see some volatility in upcoming jobless claims and payrolls as a result of Hurricane Sandy. We do not see the momentum in hiring and decline in the unemployment rate in recent months as changing the calculus for the Fed at this stage. The Fed desires both a substantial and sustainable improvement in labor market conditions and is likely to read recent payroll growth as a positive step in the right direction, but just one step in a longer journey."

Be that as it may, the main benchmark indices are all lower, despite some well received trading updates from TripAdvisor, Priceline.com and Starbucks.

Results from online travel agent TripAdvisor last night, after the bell, came in ahead of expectations on the back of a strong increase in web traffic.

Post-tax profit of $59.4m in the third quarter was equivalent to 41 cents a share, up 4 cents a share on last year's third quarter result.

Sector peer Priceline.com is also soaring after its results yesterday revealed things are not so bad in Europe as had been feared.

Post-tax earnings were up 27% from a year earlier on the back of a 25% increase in gross bookings.

Overpriced coffee peddler Starbucks saw like-for-like sales growth of 6% in the third quarter. Shares frothed higher despite revenue of $3.36bn being short of the $3.39bn analysts had been expecting.

Lastly, and not to be lost sight of however, and perhaps explaing the true reason behind many investors´ nervousness, may be the still deep seated worries concerning the economy. Thus, in today's Financial Times James Mackintosh tells readers that recent market moves -gains led by cyclicals- show that there is quite a bit of optimism regarding economic growth. In his opinion, however, that is only justified if one believes that central banks have more ammunition left in their armouries, but not if they do not -as Governor King has recently suggested.

S&P 500 - Risers
TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) $35.14 +19.48%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $51.00 +9.40%
Priceline.Com Inc. (PCLN) $636.78 +8.65%
Washington Post Co. (WPO) $355.88 +4.84%
Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $97.31 +3.02%
Beam Inc. Common Stock (BEAM) $57.17 +2.85%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $9.10 +2.71%
Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG) $155.94 +2.22%
Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN) $65.07 +2.12%
Varian Medical Systems Inc. (VAR) $70.21 +2.09%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI) $12.75 -12.91%
Fluor Corp. (FLR) $52.01 -9.80%
First Solar Inc. (FSLR) $22.61 -8.64%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $18.41 -8.29%
Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) $48.93 -8.06%
American International Group Inc. (AIG) $32.64 -7.27%
Republic Services Inc. (RSG) $26.31 -7.06%
CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) $199.22 -5.53%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $82.55 -4.12%
Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) $47.69 -3.87%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $9.83 +0.92%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $24.60 +0.20%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $46.03 +0.19%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $49.85 +0.14%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $86.90 +0.12%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $29.53 +0.05%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $108.16 -2.96%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $85.79 -2.12%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $13.70 -2.12%
Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) $26.28 -1.94%
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) $193.37 -1.92%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $44.20 -1.78%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $90.27 -1.45%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $44.52 -1.36%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $78.06 -1.26%
Boeing Co. (BA) $70.02 -1.09%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $51.00 +9.40%
Priceline.Com Inc. (PCLN) $636.78 +8.65%
Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (SIRI) $2.90 +3.20%
Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) $97.31 +3.02%
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) $17.12 +1.00%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $77.77 +0.60%
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $18.80 +0.45%
Perrigo Company (PRGO) $115.03 +0.42%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $37.69 +0.37%
O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (ORLY) $88.35 +0.34%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $44.86 -11.13%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $82.55 -4.12%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $89.09 -3.58%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $30.49 -3.56%
VeriSign Inc. (VRSN) $39.70 -3.53%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $575.85 -3.47%
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) $57.44 -3.24%
Life Technologies Corp. (LIFE) $48.76 -3.00%
Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) $5.74 -2.88%
Fastenal Co. (FAST) $43.86 -2.66%

AB

Related share prices