European shares fall ahead of U.S. jobs data
LONDON (Stock Market News) – European shares fell on Friday, paced by oil producers and mineral extractors, as investors await more signs of a contracting economy with the release of key U.S. jobs data out later in the session.
Chart of ST:SXXP
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP: news, chart, profile) fell 1.9% to 193.63, falling for the third time in five sessions.
“Today’s focus is on the monthly U.S. non-farm payroll jobs report. What we have seen happen over the course of this year is a strong business reaction to falling capacity utilization and weak demand — job cuts,” said Kenneth Broux, economist at Lloyds TSB Corporates & Markets.
Analysts are bracing for what could be the worst month for job losses in more than 30 years when the Labor Department reports on the November employment figures at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Friday.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expect a decline of 350,000 jobs, which would be the largest loss since 431,000 jobs were lost in May 1980. A loss of 400,000 jobs wouldn’t come as a surprise, analysts said.
Shares in oil and natural gas producers and mineral extractors have dropped sharply since the middle of the year, in tandem with falling commodity prices, as investors fretted about the effect of waning demand in a contracting economy on profits.
How to Get Free Real Time Quotes
This has been a secret of mine for a while now, but I figure that you guys need to get the inside info on how to truly take advantage of the your online stock broker. Unless you pay for real time quotes which costs around $20 a month (sites like yahoo finance sell package deals), the only other way is if you open an account with a broker which includes an initial deposit of $xxxx.
Most people think it isn’t worth the hassle to go through the online forms, fund their account, bla bla bla, all to be out a few grand in an account you never use. But, what most people don’t do is read the fine print, and the fine print will tell you that just because you fund your account with let’s say $2,500 doesn’t mean you have to maintain $2,500 in it. Curious yet? Read on.
Attaining the Free Stock Quotes
Any stock broker that doesn’t charge a minimum balance fee or an inactivity fee is eligible for this loophole, which from what I can relay off the top of my head includes: TD Ameritrade, Scottrade, and Etrade, to name three. What you do is take the 10 minutes online to fill out the application and fund your account electronically. The brokers above will give you instant access to your account… and your free real time stock quotes.
Then to setup one click deposits and withdraws, go into your account preferences and connect your bank account with your brokerage account. This may take a day or two to pend, but it will allow you to electronically transfer money freely in and out of your account. Once this is complete, remove let’s say $2,400 of that initial $2,500 (I’ve left as low as $50 in accounts and still had no problems). You now have $100 sitting in a broker account, and successfully have free real time stock quotes any time you want.
The alternative to this is to simply pay the $15 – $20 a month, which ends up to be somewhere around $200 or more a year. But who wants to pay that anyway?
Taking the Game One Step Further
So now you have access to free real time stock quotes with a basic stock broker account. But what about all the benefits of Elite status (Scottrade Elite, TD Ameritrade Apex, etc.). What if there was a way to get elite status which gives you everything from free level II quotes to last trades to in depth chart analysis, market commentary, heck free subscriptions to services that cost $100s a year… for free? I can tell you right now that it is possible because I have it setup right now and use it quite often, but that post is saved for a rainy day.
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If not, go to Desktop Stock Ticker to find out why you should…
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