Can Wall Street Maintain Momentum?

After Regaining 10,000 Mark, Investors Hope Dow Jones Soars Higher

(CBS/ AP)  U.S. stock futures are holding steady as investors anxiously await earnings reports from top investment banks and companies.

Goldman Sachs again showed its trading prowess, helping the Wall Street firm earn more than $3 billion in the third quarter. The company has reported Thursday that fixed income, commodities and currency trading buoyed its profits for the second straight quarter.

Investors are looking for more evidence that the economy is on the path to recovery, following the lead of JPMorgan Chase, whose upbeat earnings report on Wednesday helped propel the Dow Jones industrials past the 10,000 mark for the first time in a year.

Earnings reports from Citigroup, Southwest Airlines, Google and IBM are also on tap Thursday.

Investors will also get reports on the labor market and inflation.

Economists believe new claims for jobless benefits likely rose slightly last week to 525,000. First-time claims, an indicator of recent layoffs, fell in the prior week to their lowest level since early January. Separately, economists expect the Labor Department's Consumer Price Index rose just 0.2 percent in September, after a 0.4 percent gain in August and a flat reading in July.

Dow Jones industrial average futures are up 8 at 9,960. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures are up 0.50 at 1,088, while Nasdaq 100 index futures are up 0.25 at 1,748.

Wednesday's milestone capped a stunning 53 percent comeback for the Dow since early March, when stocks were at their lowest levels in more than a decade.

"It's almost like an announcement that the bear market is over," said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. in Boston. "That is an eye-opener - 'Hey, you know what, things must be getting better because the Dow is over 10,000."'

Added CBS News' Moneywatch editor-at-large Jill Schlesinger, "It's never as good or as bad as you think."

However, the Dow is still 29 percent off its all time high and the market first hit 10,000 all the way back in 1999, CBS News correspondent Jeff Glor reports.

European stock markets eased lower Thursday, a day after forecast-busting earnings from JP Morgan Chase & Co. pushed many of the world's major indexes up to year highs.

The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 9.30 points, or 0.2 percent, at 5,246.8. Meanwhile Germany's DAX fell 1.01 points, or 0.02 percent, to 5,853.5 and France's CAC-40 was flat at 3,883.2.

Earlier in Asia, stocks had rallied hard, as investors caught up with the gains posted in Europe and the U.S. Wednesday.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average gained 178.44 points, or 1.8 percent, to 10,238.65, and Hong Kong's benchmark added 112.60, or 0.5 percent, to 21,999.08, hitting a new high for the year during trade.

[r_mcdonald1]

These 'thieves' on Wall Street have unmitigated gall.

The American txpayer has been saddled with the generational burden of bailing these companies out, resulting in our economy being dessimated and they are giving out bonuses.

Tell me, why does a Cafeteria employee at AIG deserve a $ 7800 bonus? I have been unemployed for 8 months, that $7800 would go a long way to saving my home - when does AIG give me a bonus?

Once again, Congress demonstrated its total ineptitude in dealing with the crisis, and NOW they are taking over Health Care. Have the voters of this nation lost all common sense? 69 million of you bought this sack of crap they were selling as change, and look what we have to show for it! NOTHING but an empty sack; empty bank accounts; empty retirement funds; 10% unemployment; thousands of foreclosed homes; a real estate market in free fall; hundreds of closed manufacturers; a transportation system in shambles; bailed out bankers, bailed out auto manufacturers who are still going broke(Chrysler and GM); and a foreign debt that generations of unborn children will be forced to pay to their masters.

THANK YOU CONGRESS, MR. PRESIDENT, ad all of your predecessors - you have succeeded in crushing the "American Dream" and are in the process of consumating the sale of the United States to the highest bidders. GOOD JOB! May you all burn for your high crimes and misdemeanors against the people of the United States.

[hungry1968-16]

by timdgrim October 15, 2009 8:24 AM EDT
However, their money won't mean anything when the revolution comes.






And when is this alleged "revolution" coming?

Weren't the hippies in the 1960's always proclaiming that a "revolution was coming"? Still waiting for that one, aren't we?

[parisdakar]

Whew, glad that's over! Let's get back to doing what got us into this mess in fthe first place. Borrow and spend, yeah!

[g-gfather]

Wall street up-debt up-workers down. Progressing to our demise.

[rightbehind]

They'll flop again as soon as they run out of the new jobs created to export to third world countries. For those that still have jobs remember to work hard so the derivatives can be paid.
wallstreet = economic cannibalism

[wyodutch]

You gotta live it.
.
Trillions of dallars in debt... massive unemployment... our undustrial sector sold to the third world and who's doing great?
.
Why... The folks who produce nothing... The paper shufflers and number crunchers.

[timdgrim]

However, their money won't mean anything when the revolution comes.