Wall Street suffered losses across the board as oil prices dropped and more Federal Reserve Bank presidents suggested the Fed might raise interest rates next month.  The price of a of crude oil plummeted to $41.75 per barrel, falling 2.8%.   San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams said in an exclusive interview with USA Today:

“There’s a “very strong case” for the Fed to raise interest rates next month if the economy continues to improve and policymakers are confident that inflation will pick up. “Assuming the data are consistent with those (conditions), I think there’s a very strong case for starting the process of raising interest rates” at the Fed’s Dec. 15-16 meeting. The next natural step…is to start raising rates and to do that gradually.”

All three major averages are down more than 2% for the week so far. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 250 points. The Nasdaq composite fell more than 1 percent to end just above 5,000. The S&P 500 closed down 1.4%.

More on what some Fed bank presidents are saying about a possible interest rate hike from CNBC below.

Here are the final numbers from Thursday, 11/12/15 on Wall Street:

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17, 448.07 (-254.15/ -1.44%)

NASDAQ: 5,005.08 (-61.94 / -1.22%)

S&P 500: 2,045.97 (-29.03/ -1.40%)

The middle of the trading week was an up and down affair as stocks floundered for most of the day. A big bite was taken out of Apple as stock in the world’s biggest company slumped by as much as 3.5% before finishing down 3.15%.  According to foxbusiness.com:

Credit Suisse said Apple’s supply-chain orders have weakened recently in Asia, which could weigh on Apple’s shares for the “next few weeks/quarters.” Apple has lowered its component orders by as much as 10%, according to Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha. That points to “weak demand for the new iPhone 6s,” said Garcha. He lowered his estimate on how many iPhones Apple will build in the next calendar year to 222 million from 242 million, and reduced his calendar-year 2016 earnings per share estimates by 6%

Watch more on today’s market activity from CNBC below.

Here are the final numbers from Tuesday, 11/10/15 on Wall Street:

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17, 758.21 (+27.73/ +0.16%)

NASDAQ: 5,083.24 (-12.06 / -0.24%)

S&P 500: 2,081.72 (+3.14 / +0.15%)

On the first trading day of the week investors seemed to be concerned about the very real possibility that the Fed may raise interest rates for the first time in over a decade when the FOMC meets for its two day policy session next month.  The CME Group reports that that the likelihood of a Fed interest rate hike in December rose from about 58% to nearly 70%.

Meanwhile, A leading global policy organization says there are signs that a new global recession is a possibility. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development points to a slow-down in world commerce that could be a harbinger of things to come.

Angel Gurria, Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said:

“Trade figures are “troublesome” because the declining rates of trade seen this year “have, in the past, been associated with global recession. It projects “global trade growth at 2 percent this year, improving to 3.6 percent next year. In only 5 of the past 50 years has global trade grown at 2 percent or less, and each time has coincided with a world economic downturn.”

The Secretary-General of the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) added that contrary to 2 years ago, when slow trade was blamed on advanced economies, now the blame is on emerging markets such as China.

“As China transitions from massive infrastructure investment and manufacturing toward consumption and services, commodity prices have fallen, hurting exporters such as Australia, Brazil, Canada and Russia. New figures released Monday in China highlighted the extent of the downturn: China’s imports fell by %18.8 percent in October from a year earlier, while exports shrank %6.9 percent.”

On July 24, 2015 CNBC’s Louisa Bojesen interviewed Angel Gurría about the state of the world economy. Watch video below.

Here are the final numbers from Monday, 11/9/15 on Wall Street:

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17, 730.48 (-179.851/ -1.00%)

NASDAQ: 5,095.30 (-51.82 / -1.01%)

S&P 500: 2,078.58 (-20.62 / -0.98%)

Wall Street is now running a month and a half winning streak after finishing mixed today. The much anticipated jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for October far exceeded experts’ expectations as it showed the addition of 271,000 jobs, thoroughly surpassing expectations of about 180,000, with the unemployment rate dropping lower to 5 percent.  The encouraging news on employment increases the likelihood that the Federal Open Market Committee will elect to raise interest rates for the first time in over a decade, when it meets next month on December 15th & 16th.

Watch CNBC’s Rick Santelli talk about the Oct. jobs’ report below.

Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones told CNBC:

“I think (the report) does increase the chance the Fed hikes in December but of course there’s one more report before then and other data. I think investors should take this as good news. It’s a combination of we’ve seen stocks move up in the last five weeks and there’s likely to be some profit taking as people worry if the Fed does start hiking, conditions won’t be as favorable as they have been in the last five years.”

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard articulated to Reuters today:

“A very good U.S. jobs report for October on top of faster than expected progress over the last year means the U.S. economy is effectively at full employment.”

Here are the final numbers from Friday, 11/6/15 on Wall Street:

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17,910.27 (+46.84/ +0.26%)

NASDAQ: 5,147.12 (+19.38 / +0.38%)

S&P 500: 2,099.20 (-0.73 / -0.03%)

Despite a jump in Facebook stock of 5% due to better than expected earnings, the markets fizzled ahead of tomorrow’s important unemployment report.  Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth surmised to CNBC:

“I think people are just a little leery of tomorrow’s employment report. It looks like the Federal Reserve is probably going to have to move on interest rates in December. At least that’s the indication. They told us they’re going to rely on the data and the data doesn’t seem to support a rate increase.”

Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, told CNBC that he’s warning clients that the chances of an economic recession are growing. Watch video below.

Here are the final numbers from Thursday, 11/5/15 on Wall Street:

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17,863.43 (-4.15/ -0.02%)

NASDAQ: 5,127.74 (-14.74 / -0.29%)

S&P 500: 2,099.93(-2.38 / -0.11%)

Stocks suffered a mid-week drop in part,  due to a decline in energy stocks and increased confidence in the possibility of a December rate hike by the Federal Reserve.  Fed Chair Janet Yellen said this morning that the U.S. economy is performing well and a December rate hike is a “live possibility,” depending on the data, but that “no decision at all has been made on that.”

Watch Yellen’s testimony below.

Yellen’s comments today largely repeated the Fed’s statement after a meeting last week that said the central bank will act if the economy and labor market continue to improve. The Fed has not raised its benchmark rate in nearly a decade and it has been near zero since the 2008 financial crisis.

Regarding regulation on big investment banks Yellen said:

“Large banks that teetered during the 2008 financial crisis are now more stable as a result of new capital and liquidity requirements, as well as Fed tests of their ability to withstand market turmoil, but the biggest banks continue to have substantial compliance and risk management issues that have undermined confidence in their risk management and controls and could have implications for financial stability.”

Meantime, CNBC Financial Editor Jeff Cox contemplates the real reasons why the Fed might raise interest rates. Watch below.

Here are the final numbers from Wednesday, 11/4/15 on Wall Street:

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17,867.58 (-50.57/ -0.28%)

NASDAQ: 5,142.48 (-02.65/ -0.05%)

S&P 500: 2,102.31 (-7.48 / -0.35%)

Big gains in the energy and technology sectors helped push all three major indices to higher levels on Wall St. Global oil prices surged due to a report on heating oil and gasoline inventories will show a decline, while the prospect of falling natural gas shale production also added to fuel gains. Oil briefly traded more than 4 percent higher before settling up $1.76, or 3.81 percent, at $47.90 a barrel. The focus today was on factory orders from the Commerce Department, which fell for the second-straight month, and last month’s auto sales. Shares of companies that make chips for Apple also fell Tuesday on a report from Pacific Crest citing weak iPhone sales. Investors will await Friday’s all-important October jobs report. Tomorrow, the Chair of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee Janet Yellen will talk about bank regulation at 10:00 a.m. on Capitol Hill.

Here are the final numbers from Tuesday, 11/3/15 on Wall Street:

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17, 918.15 (+89.39/ +0.50%)

NASDAQ: 5,145.14 (+17.98/ +0.35%)

S&P 500: 2,104.05 (+5.74 / +0.27%)