New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks slumped on the open Thursday on continued worries about the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis. Investors shrugged off encouraging news on the unemployment front and sold into the previous two-day rally.

Just after 9:30 a.m. on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 107 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 11 points and the NASDAQ gave back 13 points.

Reports that private sector employment climbed 325,000 in December, and that the number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell 1.6 percent last month, its lowest level since June 2010, did little to buoy U.S. equities.

Weighing on markets was a less-than-impressive French debt offering, a falling euro, and a tepid German bond auction on Wednesday.

In U.S. corporate news, retailers Macy’s, Limited and Zumiez all posted solid same-store sales results and boosted their future earnings guidance higher.

Pepsi fell after reports that the soft drink maker is mulling cutting 4,000 employees and lowering pension contributions in an effort to raise earnings. Shares were trading lower by 32 cents to $66.41 per share.

Eastman Kodak continued to fall on reports the iconic company may be on the verge of filing bankruptcy. The firm has already been warned about possible delisting from the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of EK were last quoted at just 42 cents.

In commodities, gold was lower by $13.60 to $1,599 a troy ounce, silver was off 28 cents to $28.91 and oil was down 70 cents to $102.49 a barrel.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks slid on the open Wednesday as worries over Europe’s debt crisis persisted.

Just after 9:30 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 120 points, the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index lost 11 points and the NASDAQ fell 18.

Also dragging stocks lower was a report that showed the Consumer Price Index edged down 0.1 percent in October. Analysts had expected the level to remain constant after increasing 0.3 percent in September.

While the index shows little signs of inflation, giving the Federal Reserve more leeway to further stimulate the economy if needed, the data did little to sway confidence in the market. The focus remains on Europe.

Italy’s Prime Minister-designate, Mario Monte, said he will meet with President Giorgio Napolitano Wednesday to present his cabinet. Investors view the meeting as bringing Italy a step closer toward welcoming a new government. However, Italy needs to show much more political willpower than a shift in leadership to avoid a potential default.

U.S. markets have whipsawed on fears that the eurozone sovereign debt crisis will result in defaults by Greece and Italy, and the worldwide ripple effect that would follow. Recent economic news and earnings here in the States have had little impact. Stocks are now reacting to uncertainties, not fundamentals.

Gold for December delivery was down $11 to trade at $1,762 a troy once, and oil was up $1.67 to break the $100 mark, last trading at $101.16 a barrel.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks reacted negatively to the slight dip in unemployment numbers Friday morning.

Just after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower by 71 points, the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index was down 8 and the NASDAQ was off 15 points.

Only 80,000 jobs were added in October, but it was enough to dip the unemployment rate to 9 percent from 9.1 percent. Disappointing investors was news from the Labor Department that showed hiring slowed in October, and job growth was much stronger in August and September.

Trading will be choppy as investors keep a sharp eye on Greece, and as the G20 summit comes to an end in Cannes, France.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou faces a confidence vote in the Greek Parliament Friday, one day after he backed away from plans to hold a referendum on Greece’s bailout fund.

Oil was trading slightly lower at $93.15 a barrel and gold was lower by $5.50 to $1,760 a troy ounce.

Looking perky was Starbucks. The coffee giant jumped $2.53 to $43.93 after the company brewed solid third quarter earnings.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – U.S. stocks rallied Friday morning on the heels of strong gains in Europe. Investors were buoyant and hopeful this weekend’s European Summit would lead to some sort of resolve to stem the region’s threatening sovereign debt crisis.

By 11 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 200 points, the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index rose almost 20 points, and the recently battered NASDAQ climbed 40 points.

Overseas, Europe was widely higher overall as the Stoxx Europe 600 jumped 1.9 percent. Even though an agreement to expand the euro zone’s bailout fund will not be reached by Sunday as was previously believed, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy issued a joint statement promising to produce a comprehensive plan by Wednesday.

Both U.S. markets and those abroad have been hinging on any news regarding the euro zone bailout, and with no economic news releases set for Friday, stocks reacted strongly to the hope of some sort of resolution overseas.

Gold futures glittered, climbing over $30 an ounce and oil advanced by $2.40 to $88.47 a barrel.

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Frankfurt, Germany (AHN) – Analysts’ speculations that the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs would cause the tech company’s stocks to plummet appear to have basis – at least in Germany.

Reports said Apple shares in Germany fell up to 5.3 percent but eventually settled to $365.04 at 8:50 a.m. in Frankfurt before electronic trading started at 9 a.m. Jobs died on Wednesday of pancreatic cancer at the age of 56.

Jobs, who initially went on a medical leave and even underwent a liver transplant in 2009, is primarily responsible for growing Apple’s market value to the current $351 billion from only $5 billion in 2000.

The rise in the company’s value was because of the high-tech devices that Apple developed such as the iMac, the iPod, iPhone and iPad which had changed the way the world communicates, entertains and shops.

Because of Jobs’s vision and financial genius, Apple is the world’s most valuable company in terms of market capitalization.

Although Apple’s stock had soared in value in the past decade, the company’s shared dipped more than five points on Tuesday when the company unveiled the iPhone 4S instead of the anticipated iPhone 5.

Analysts also pointed to a 5 percent drop in Apple’s shares – which eventually rebounded – when Jobs relinquished his chief executive officer post on Aug. 24 to Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cooks because of medical reasons.

Whether Apples future value is really tied to Steve Jobs’ or not remains to be seen in the coming days, but analysts pointed to other issues facing the company as determiners of Apple’s future value. In particular ongoing legal battles with partner Samsung Electronics over patent infringement that has brought the two technology giants to courtrooms in four continents as they slug it out in 20 court cases over sales of the iPhone and tablet computers.

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The market shrugged off news that Opec is considering raising output by as much as 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), ahead of the group’s meeting in Vienna on 8 June

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LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Japanese stocks traded sharply lower late Friday, as major banks saw their shares hit by possible haircuts on loans to troubled utility Tokyo Electric Power Co. . Less then half an hour from the close of trade, the Nikkei Stock Average was down 1.2% at 9,602.54, while the Topix fell 1.6% to 835.95. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Tepco’s creditors should make efforts to ease the debt burden on the operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant before the government offers its financial assistance, according to Kyodo News. Shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. fell 3.1%, while Mizuho Financial Group Inc. lost 3.7%, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. dropped 4.2%. Shares of Tepco tumbled 5.6%. Meanwhile, a weakening of crude-oil prices sent Inpex Corp. down 4.4%, and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. lower by 3.9%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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China (AHN) – China will ban smoking in most indoor facilities, including hotels, restaurants, theaters, bars and railway stations beginning May 1.

The Ministry of Health law doesn’t specify penalties for people who violate the ban or for businesses that don’t meet the ban’s specifications.

The rule requires business owners to post no smoking signs, it prohibits cigarette vending machines in public places and it requires outdoor smoking areas to be out of the way of pedestrian walkways.

According to the Chinese news service Xinhua, about 300 million Chinese citizens are regular smokers. This leaves about 700 million people exposed to second-hand smoke.

The new rule does not prohibit smokers from lighting up at work.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Blue-chip stocks dipped on Monday pulled down by J.P. Morgan Chase’s downgrading of Wal-Mart Stores shares from overweight to neutral.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 19 points or 0.2 percent to 12,254 as investors were also unresponsive to President Barack Obama’s announcement of a proposed $3.7 trillion budget.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 2.54 points or barely 1 percent to 1,330.

The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 7.2 points or 0.3 percent to end at 2,817.

Oil for March delivery was up 14 cents settling at $85.72 a barrel.

Gold futures for April delivery jumped $6.60 to $1,367 an ounce.

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New Delhi, India (AHN) – Thousands of people rallied in different cities of India on Sunday calling for an end to corruption in the government.

The rally coincided with the death anniversary of independence leader and Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.

Some 5,000 people carrying placards marched in the capital New Delhi calling for the passage of a law establishing an anti-corruption agency, which will recommend the prosecution of corrupt officials. They demanded the passage of the Lokpal Bill in the budget session of parliament.

Activist lawyer Shanti Bhushan told demonstrators in the capital that the bill could eradicate corruption in the government in two to three years.

There were also similar rallies held in Bangalore and Mumbai.

The bill was an offshoot of corruption scandals that hit the administration of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Among the scandals were the sale of cheap mobile phone licenses that cost the national treasury $40 billion and anomalies related to the holding of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

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