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Spooky Predictions For Wall Street

It's anybody's guess what U.S. stocks will do this week. Investors have acted with all the reliability of a ball on a roulette wheel since the end of September.

Monday, it looked like stocks could recover a bit.

Then again: maybe not.

After a slow and steady upward climb Monday morning, investors repeated what appears to be a new trend, reversing direction later in the day. In the current climate, even the declines looked reassuringly gentle and steady.

Even the last hour promised a soft landing -- until the last 10 minutes of trading when values tanked.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.97%, or 46.13, to close at 1505.90. Cable and satellite companies posted small gains, while virtually every other category of technology stocks fell again.

Amazon was one of few large technology companies to post gains Monday, rising 1.27%, or 62 cents per share, to close at $49.58.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.42%, or 203.18 points, to close at 8175.77.

The S&P 500 fell 3.18%, or 27.85 points, to close at 848.92.

The losses occurred despite good news about home sales increasing recently, most likely from an uptick in bargain hunting.

The Federal Reserve is expected to meet Tuesday and announce an interest rate decision Wednesday. A housing report and a government report on third quarter economic activity also are due this week. Experts wait for the news and how it will affect investments.

Most people believe that next week's elections could sway the markets. In fact, some analysts have already suggested that the campaign -- specifically U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's apparent lead over Sen. John McCain -- already has influenced Wall Street.

How about Halloween?

At this point, individual news events and announcements appear no more influential than superstition and fear.

America faces broad economic challenges, coupled with generalized fear, and uncertainty. That uncertainty means that even the investors themselves don't know what they will do with their money. The only thing for certain is they are spooked.

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