The Weekly Report for October 22nd - October 26th, 2007

October 21, 2007- Market Summary
The story of the week was undoubtedly the sharp correction that occurred on Friday. Many readers may be interested to know that October 19 also corresponds with the anniversary of the 1987 crash known as Black Monday. Record oil prices, fear of recession and lackluster corporate earnings all fueled the downward momentum and resulted in the Dow notching five consecutive losing sessions. The Dow ended the week lower by 4.1% while others like the S&P fell by 3.9%. The selloff resulted in the largest market declines since August.

In our last report, we noted that an earnings miss from any of the large players could be enough to scare investors into taking profit off the table and cause the markets to move lower. Last week's announcements from 3M Co. (NYSE:MMM), Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE:SLB) and Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) all weighed down the markets and caused many investors to question future growth prospects. Unfortunately for the bulls, Google Inc.'s (Nasdaq:GOOG) record move was not enough to counteract the negative announcements that seemed to be the focus of the week. Traders will pay particular attention to economic data next week, which will likely result in above-average volatility.

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