Market this Wed 11/21

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Record oil prices, losses in the foreign markets and several retailers coming up short of consensus estimates and a concern among investors about holding long positions going in the Thanksgiving holiday are playing a role in the negative bias.

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the Conference Board Leading Indicators report for October came in at -0.5%, compared to last month's reading of 0.3%. Economists expected the reading to come in at -0.3%.

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The weekly inventory report from the Dept. of Energy : Analysts had been expecting a crude oil inventory build of 750,000 barrels, but it was reported stockpiles actually fell by 1.07 million barrels. In electronic trading before the open, crude oil hit an all-time high of $99.29 a barrel.

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New claims for unemployment for the week ended November 30 fell to 330,000 from 341,000 the week before. That is almost exactly in line with the four week moving average of 329,750.

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Jan crude oil $97.35 -0.68 has had a choppy day. After making a new all-time high of $99.29 overnight, crude sold off, trading in the red briefly before rallying again just before the open. However, crude declined back into negative territory ahead of the E.I.A.'s weekly inventory stats.