Markets made a record fall as profits were taken – more tomorrow?

4:10    Last post for the day, see everyone tomorrow. The dow closed down a record xx and the SP500 did the same atxx. Gold ended up at 1671, Brent at 122 and WTI oil at 104.

@dailyfx: “Since there are no pictures of bears happy that the market has tanked, I have found my own: http://t.co/8OKw3Kvd“

U.S. PRESIDENT OBAMA: Administration is examining speculation in oil markets. (about time!)

The 500.

The DOW.

The Indexes.

@telegraph: “More from Wells Fargo:

A declining participation rate initially lowers the unemployment rate as the number of workers that would be counted as unemployed decreases at a greater rate than the labor force. If the current labor force participation rate was equal to the average during the previous business cycle—66.1 percent—the unemployment rate would currently stand at 11.6 percent.

This suggests that the official unemployment rate does not fully capture the severity of joblessness in this cycle. While the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes alternative measures of unemployment to capture varying degrees of labor utilization,8 the drop-off in the labor force participation rate suggests an understated unemployment rate at the most widely quoted definition.

In a note issued today, Wells Fargo examines the relationship between America’s current unemployment rate and overall participation rates in the labour market. It concludes that:

the stark decline in the labor force participation rate since the Great Recession significantly overstates the economic significance of the current unemployment rate […] If participation today was equal to the average rate over the prior business cycle, unemployment would stand at 11.6 percent instead of 8.3 percent.

_{If the current labor force participation rate was equal to the average during the previous business cycle—66.1pc—the unemployment rate would currently stand at 11.6pc (Source: Wells Fargo).}

Written by Gary