Dow ends down 33 amid jump in oil prices [View All]

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Dow ends down 33 amid jump in oil prices By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer
1 minute ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061103/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/wall_street

NEW YORK - Wall Street ended the week with a moderate decline Friday after oil prices jumped on word of possible attacks in Nigeria near production facilities. The rise in crude prices sapped enthusiasm over a Labor Department report that the nation's unemployment rate fell to a five-year low.

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While stocks overall fell for a third straight day, the Dow Jones industrial average, the best-known stock index, logged its first six consecutive day drop since June 2005. Light, sweet crude rose $1.26 to $59.14 on the New York Mercantile Exchange after U.S. diplomats in Nigeria warned that militants are planning a series of kidnappings and bombing attacks in the coming days in areas where oil is extracted.

The Labor Department said the unemployment rate fell to 4.4 percent last month from 4.6 percent in September, easing some concerns that the economy has slowed too quickly. For more than a week, investors have been nervous about the strength of the economy following a stream of disappointing data. While Wall Street wants growth to cool so the threat of inflation will dissipate and the Federal Reserve can cut interest rates, a precipitous slowdown could slice into consumer spending and corporate profits.

Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist and director of asset allocation for Trusco Capital Management, said the employment figures suggest the economy has more power than expected going into the holiday spending season but warned that the strength could make the Fed uneasy. "Investors have to digest the notion that the Fed is going to remain poised to lift interest rates as we go into 2007."

The Dow closed down 32.50, or 0.27 percent, at 11,986.04. It was the average's first close under 12,000 since Oct. 19, when it finished above that milestone for the first time.