The October nonfarm payrolls report was bad, but not as bad as some expected. A decline of 240,000, versus expectations of 200,000, but some were expecting a much greater decline, to 300,000. And ultimately it may well be revised there: September was revised downward to 284,000, versus initial numbers of 159,000—a significant revision.
When all was said and done, futures are relatively flat. The game plan for the past two days has been to short the market going into the jobs report, and if it was not dramatically worse to push a modest rally. We'll see. The Dow and the S&P 500 are down about 10 percent in the past two days.
Elsewhere:
1) Fordup 5 percent, after announcing a greater loss than expected. They are cutting 10 percent of its salaried staff, and cutting production as well. Ford burned through $7.7 b in cash this quarter, ending with $29.6 b in cash and credit on hand. Although they say they have enough cash to get through next year; the question is how much aid the government will provide.
GM's numbers come out at 10:30 AM ET.
2) A miracle: someone raised guidance! Construction and engineering giant Fluorbeat expectations and guided higher for the rest of the year, as well as next year. Remember, they get a large amount of their revenues from the oil and gas industry.
3) Wells Fargo did get its capital raising done: $11 billion. That's 407.5 million shares for $27 each, 6 percent below the Nov. 6 price of $28.77. Wells down 7 percent p
4) Insurance giant Genworthsuspended its common stock dividend.
5) There is considerable talk that federal officials may change the terms of the $85 billion loan to American International Group. They are burning through cash at a lot faster rate than expected.
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General Motors
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