Bears roar; markets take a dive!

Investor fear deepens on the continuing credit crisis, growing banking sector home loans problem, record high oil prices, and sliding dollar which may slow down the economic growth. The S&P500 lost 52 points, the DOW lost 550 points and the NASDAQ lost 155 points for the week ending November 9th, 2007.

Banking sector problem grows.

This week most of the major banks reported quarterly losses due to growing home loan problem, and worst is not over yet. More bad news is expected in the coming months. JPMorgan, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Wachovia, and others, have lost hundreds of millions to billions of dollars due to sub-prime home loans.

The home loan problem seems to have no end in sight. After Citigroup and Merrill Lynch announced that they would lose billions due to the bad home loans, investors shook-up the banking industry by holding the CEOs responsible for these problems and fired them. Most to the banking sector stock have declined significantly and are expected to remain low for the near future.

Oil approaches $100 per barrel mark!

As the oil prices approach $100 a barrel, investors remain concerned that rising oil prices could impact the economy because higher oil prices make products, services, and travelling more expensive. The continued US dollar slide is also adding fuel to the fire as the weak US dollar makes things (such as oil) more expensive to import. Experts believe that the oil prices are not going to come down any time soon because the oil demand from growing economies like China and India continues to remain strong.

A hundred dollar per barrel oil is still cheaper than the $150 a barrel milk, or $180 a barrel of imported water. However, experts remain concerned about the oil supply to meet the world oil demand. Today, the world consumes 85 million barrels a day. US alone consumes up to over 20 million barrels per day, or one fourth (25%) of the world oil consumption. In next 25 years, China and India, will consume more than 30 million barrels a day exceeding the current US oil consumption.

Oil is a concern for the US economic growth and we will watch the oil market for you.

Professor's Corner

Who are CEO, CFO, Shareholders, and the Board of Directors? What is SOX?

You read in the news about the CEO, CFO, and Directors, but who are they and what do they do?

CEO stands for Chief Executive Officer and is a top-ranking corporate position, responsible for over-seeing company operations. CEO is often the company's President and reports to the board of directors. He or she is the most important person of the company and is responsible for its financial results, health and future.

CFO stands for Chief Financial Officer. CFO is the person responsible for financial planning, record-keeping, reporting financial performance and forecasts to the investors. The CFO typically reports to the CEO, and is frequently a member of the board of directors. Shareholders of a company are the ultimate owners of a company.

Shareholders elect members of the board of directors to govern a company on their behalf. Members of the board report to shareholders. Duties of the board of directors include supervising the work of CEO and the company. They hire the CEO, and assess the CEO’s performance on goals and strategies that are set for the company. Members of the board of directors have the authority to fire the CEO as well.

SOX is short form of Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is a federal law signed on July 30, 2002 that establishes higher requirements for truthful and accurate financial reporting standards by all public companies. This law is named after Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland and House Representative Michael Oxley of Ohio. Sarbanes-Oxley Act contains 11 major sections that define new corporate board responsibilities with provisions for criminal penalties for not following the law. SOX imposes higher reporting standards and responsibilities on a company’s board of directors, its management, and its auditors.

This law was in response to major corporate and accounting scandals at companies like Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, and many more causing public mistrust in accounting and reporting. Many hard working people lost their jobs, savings, and investments in these companies because of greed and corrupt management, board and accountants. Some of the people responsible for the scandals are in US jails.

What is SOX?

Learn more about...

What is Credit History? Why is it important to have a good credit history? Volume 12.

What is Economy, Business, Workers, Goods, Services, Stock, DOW, S&P500, and NASDAQ in Volume 16.

Does it pay to study hard? Volume 17.

What is Currency and Foreign Currency Exchange rate? Volume 14. What is stronger or weaker currency? Volume 20.

How does money grow in a bank? Volume 21.

What is Fed Funds rate and Discount rate? Volume 22

What does the interest rate cut mean for you? Volume 23.

How to read stock information? Volume 25.

Nov 5-9, 2007

Weekly Stock Market

Bear Market-Stocks down!

Index

Change

Last

DOW

Down 550

13,043

S&P500

Down 52

1,454

NASDAQ

Down 155

2,628

**Foreign Exchange Rate**

**$1 is equal to**
Currency	Change	Last
Euro (€)	-0.01	0.68
Yen (¥)	-4.06	110.65
Pound (£)	-0.00	0.48
Yuan ()	-0.05	7.41
Rupee (Rs.)	-0.19	39.13
Canadian (C$)	+0.01	0.94

**Your Favorite Stocks**
Company	Bought one stock in Jan-07	This week stock is?	Your gain or loss?
	$34.20	$32.74	-$1.46
	$49.89	$52.39	+$2.50
	$43.87	$58.31	+$14.44

We use multiple information resources, such as, websites, companies, stock exchanges, newspapers, and others.