By Clyde Noel

Stock Report

It takes more than one statistic to make a recovery, so maybe things aren’t as great as we may think.

Last week, the government unemployment statistic came in at an eight-year high. That wiped out four days of stock market gains and led to a disastrous Friday. Early Monday morning, the Dow declined further.

Growing pessimism created further declines in Town Crier index stocks last week. Issues like BEA Systems were down to $9.70 a share; Cisco Systems was down to $13.14. Other downers included Intel, $26.56; LSI Logic, $11.61; Rambus, $6.63; Sun Micro, $5.70; Veritas, $25.90 and Yahoo priced at $14.77 a share.

Oracle, not a Town Crier stock, but a staple of the Silicon Valley economy, fell to $8.43.

For the week, the Dow industrials finished with a 1 percent gain, but the broader indicator, Nasdaq, fell 3.1 percent and the Town Crier index fell another 2.96 percent.

During the day, the Dow fell below 10,000 again and the Nasdaq continues its steady decline to a test area at 1,600. Many investors are still avoiding technology stocks. The next test area for the Nasdaq will be at the 1,450 level and the Dow, 9,600.

There is still fear among investors. You don’t have to think hard to recite reasons: Sept. 11, Enron, corporate accounting methods and the escalating war in the Middle East.

The recent Wall Street scandals over the conflict of interest by investment bankers, lenders and brokerage house research reports further infuriate many investors in the stock market.

Noel, a seasoned investor, covers the stock market for the Town Crier.