Video: Reuters Business Recap for the Week of October 22, 2007

Stocks finished the trading week with a triple-digit gain of the Dow on Friday as strong profits report from software giant Microsoft lifted technology stocks and bullish forecast from the nation’s largest mortgage provider Countrywide boosted the financial sector. What happened in the middle of the week was more interesting. For each day from Tuesday to Thursday, the Dow at one point appeared to head to triple-digit decline, but the index rallied back to finish each of the three sessions virtually flat.

For the week, the S&P 500 rose 1.4% to 1,535.28, the Dow climbed 1% to 13,806.7, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ added 1.9% to 2,804.19. The rally of gold continued this week as the US dollar kept weakening against Euro. Spot gold price gained nearly$20 to close at $783.50 an ounce on Friday. Crude oil reached another record Friday as geopolitical tension in the Middle East increased. Crude oil for December delivery rose $3.26 this week to $91.86 a barrel on NYMEX on Friday.

Next week, investors’ attention will be on the FOMC meeting on Tuesday and the Fed’s interest rate decision on Wednesday. Speculations of another rate cut are growing in the recent weeks after big banks wrote down billions of dollars of assets. But will we get it this time? My guess is no.

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