Market Wrap: Gaddafi's Gone for Good; Oh, Microsoft Reported?; EU Will Meet, Merkel Won't Speak; Jobless Win, Lose... No Draw

Market wrap-up for October 20th

End of the Day: Dow Jones up 37 to 11,541.78; Nasdaq down 5 to 2,598.62; S&P 500 up 5.5 to 1,215.39

The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:

• A whole newwww world!: Estranged Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi was killed Thursday. You can see alive and dead videos here, but be careful, they're unedited, violent, graphic, and definitely not suitable for those with a weak stomach. So don't eat Jell-O or anything while watching.
  
  The event sparks a new era in Libya, which was under Gaddafi's regime for some 42 years.
  
  
• Techies just fail to impress: Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) reported in-line first-quarter earnings of 68 cents per share, with a slight uptick in revs. Notably, Microsoft reported it's Bing search grew 3.5 percent to 14.7 percent of U.S. market share. Including Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), and that number is at 27 percent.
  
  AT&T (NYSE: T) also kinda, sorta posts ho-hum results. Earnings were 61 cents per share on revenue of $31.48 billion. Notably, AT&T reported that "sales of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android and other non-iPhone smartphones were almost half of 4.8 million smartphone sales in the quarter."
  
  
• You know what? We need more meetings: The EU commission is set for it's conference on Sunday, October 23rd, but also added another date of Wednesday, October 26th. So get your tickets now before they're gone!
  
  Additionally, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated she is cancelling a planned speech in Berlin on Friday due to a deadlock over EFSF. Tomorrow's event will have EU Finance Ministers gathering to set a common strategy, and EU leaders meeting on the 23rd.
  
  
• Initial claims fall, but just doesn't feel like a 'win': Initial jobless claims fell, but missed expectations. The U.S. Labor Department reported initial jobless claims fell 6,000 to 403,000 for the week ended October 15th, missing Street views calling for a drop to 400,000 or less.

Click here to go to Streetinsider's Full News Feed and never miss a beat!

---

Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

---

You May Also Be Interested In

• Etsy upgraded to buy at BofA on durable growth, buyback potential
• Jefferies Downgrades Sunway Healthcare Holdings (SUNMED:MK) to Hold
• Benchmark Reiterates Hold Rating on Codexis, Inc. (CDXS) Amid Transition to New Products/Services