Stocks Hold Up Against Dismal Jobs Number

Construction management firm Fluor (FLR Quote) reported a large rise in third-quarter income.

Meanwhile, communication equipment manufacturer Qualcomm (QCOM Quote) announced falling profit and lowered its forward outlook.

Automaker Ford (F Quote) said it lost $129 million for the third quarter and burned $7.7 million in cash and said it would cut additional jobs. General Motors (GM Quote) is also slated to report.

Staying with autos, Bloomberg reported that GM, Ford and Chrysler are looking to get $50 billion in loans from the government to cover health care spending and general liquidity. Such aid would come on top of $25 billion loan passed by Congress in September.

Telecom firm Sprint Nextel (S Quote) swung to a third-quarter loss but announced it renegotiated terms of a credit facility and cut its debt levels.

Beyond earnings, Microsoft (MSFT Quote) CEO Steve Ballmer said that his company doesn't intend to work out a merger deal with Yahoo! (YHOO Quote), according to a report by Bloomberg.

Elsewhere on the merger front, Panasonic (PC Quote) and Sanyo Electric announced they were discussing a potential deal.

In analyst actions, JPMorgan cut 2009 earnings estimates on Goldman Sachs (GS Quote) and Morgan Stanley (MS Quote). The reduction in the Goldman estimates was tied to private-equity losses.

In commodities, crude oil was gaining $1.35 to $62.12 a barrel. Gold was adding $3.10 to $735.30 an ounce.

Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were falling in price. The 10-year note was down 24/32, yielding 3.78%, and the 30-year was lower by 1-6/32 to yield 4.27%. The dollar was higher vs. the yen, but softening against the euro and pound.

Credit markets continued their loosening streak. Three-month dollar Libor dropped 10 basis points to 2.29%, a four-year low, indicating that interest-rate cuts from central banks around the world were having an impact. Overnight Libor remained level at 0.33%.

Abroad, European indices gaining ground, as the FTSE in London and the Dax in Frankfurt traded higher. Asian exchanges were mixed, as Japan's Nikkei ended down and Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed with gains.