Unemployment Hits 14-Year High; Stocks Flat

The economy lost 240,000 jobs in October, bringing unemployment to 6.5%, its highest rate since 1994. It was the 10th-straight negative month, bringing the year’s losses to 1.2 million. But the staggering report did little to move the needle on Wall Street, as the Dow actually rose 136 points before settling back. The S&P and Nasdaq saw similar modest gains of 1.3% and 1.4% respectively.

September’s job losses were revised up to 284,000, making it the biggest drop since November 2001. The market was also mulling earnings news, with Walt Disney dropping 3% premarket after reporting a 13% profit slide, and Sprint up 6.8% despite swinging to a third-quarter loss. Ford narrowed its loss thanks to a retiree health write-off, but excluding that lost nearly $3 billion. (More stock market stories.)