The week the S&P 500 had its worst day since April 2025, oil fell 13% and hiring jumped

Two days after the midterm elections, the stock market had its worst day in a year and a half. Oil went the other way from where it had been heading for four months. Then Friday's jobs report came in nearly three times stronger than forecasters expected. Everything moved this week, including next year's tax brackets.

The market: down 4.4% in one day

On Thursday the S&P 500 fell 334.89 points, or 4.4%, to 7,353.73, the Associated Press reported, its worst day since April 2025. The Nasdaq lost 5.5%. The Dow fell 1,833.06 points, or 3.4%.

NBC News, as carried by KTVZ, tied the drop to two disappointing earnings reports from chipmakers Qualcomm and Arm Holdings, and to Democratic wins in Tuesday's midterms that investors read as a threat to the artificial intelligence buildout. Nvidia fell about 9%.

Friday's close, per the AP: the S&P 500 at 7,376.86, up 0.3%; the Dow at 51,285.73, down 0.5%; the Nasdaq at 24,579.42, up 1.1%. For the week the S&P lost 2.7%, the Nasdaq 3.4% and the Dow 0.9%. The S&P is still up 7.8% for the year. What a day like Thursday does to a retirement account is in this week's resource.

Oil: Brent down more than 16% for the week

West Texas Intermediate settled Friday at $90.83 a barrel, up 31 cents on the day, and Brent at $98.32, up 3 cents, CNBC reported. For the week, Brent fell more than 16% and WTI nearly 13%. A week ago WTI settled at $104.12. CNBC tied the slide to hopes of a diplomatic deal with Iran, including a nuclear proposal Reuters said Iran sent to Washington through Qatar, while tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz continued.

At the pump, AAA's Saturday reading puts the Texas average for regular at $3.51 a gallon, down from $3.66 a week ago and $3.89 a month ago. A year ago it was $2.64. The Houston-area average is $3.55. Diesel in Texas averages $5.62, against $3.22 a year ago.

Jobs: 165,000 added in October

Employers added 165,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate held at 4.1%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. August and September were revised up by a combined 84,000. Average hourly pay rose 14 cents to $38.00, up 3.1% over the year. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected about 59,000 new jobs.

The next inflation reading, the October consumer price index, comes out Tuesday, November 10, on the bureau's schedule.

The Fed: December 9 is next

The Federal Reserve's range stays at 3.75% to 4% after last week's hold, when two of its twelve voters wanted an increase. The next decision is December 9. Between now and then come the inflation report Tuesday and one more jobs report.

Mortgages: 7.18%, a third weekly drop

Freddie Mac's Thursday survey put the average 30-year rate at 7.18%, down from 7.24% a week earlier and the third decline in a row. A year ago it was 6.22%. The 15-year average was 6.57%, down from 6.60%.

Gold and silver: a rebound week

Gold closed Friday at $4,064.50 an ounce, down $38 on the day but up $178.80 for the week from $3,885.70, GoldDealer's daily report showed. Silver closed at $51.80, up $2.70 for the week. Last Saturday, silver had just dropped below $50. The Rio Times put Friday's dip on a stronger dollar and the expectation that rates stay high.

Bitcoin: down 5% in a day

Bitcoin was $76,023.87 at 7:15 a.m. Eastern on Friday, down 5.2% from the morning before and about 25% below where it traded a year earlier, according to Fortune. A week earlier it was about $77,400.

Veterans: the VA raise still is not law

Veterans Day is Wednesday, and the bill that would raise VA disability compensation 3.6% on December 1 has not moved. On congress.gov Saturday, the Senate version, S. 4487, showed one action, its referral to committee on May 11. The House version, H.R. 8552, last moved on June 30, when a subcommittee sent it to the full committee.

Last year's version passed the Senate on November 9 and became law November 25, six days before it took effect. Military retired pay does not wait on Congress: it rises 3.6% under permanent law, the American Legion reported. The Legion's example puts a 100% rating with no dependents at $4,080 a month after the raise, from $3,939. Local discounts for veterans are in the paper's hero discount guide, and the Texas property tax exemptions are in Veterans Resources.

New on the books

On Thursday the IRS published its 2027 inflation adjustments, in Revenue Procedure 2026-35. The standard deduction for a married couple rises to $33,200, the child tax credit to $2,300, and every bracket starts higher. These are the numbers for returns filed in 2028; the return due next April still uses 2026's. The full list, and what it does to two Magnolia households, is in New on the Books.

• November 10: the October consumer price index.
• November 11: Veterans Day, a federal holiday.
• December 1: the date the VA raise would take effect, if Congress passes it.
• December 9: the Fed's next decision.

What it adds up to for a family here

Worked with this week's published numbers. The arithmetic is ours; every rate is the one printed above.

• If your household buys 15 gallons of regular a week, 87 cents a gallon more than a year ago is about $13 a week, or roughly $680 a year. A week ago the gap was $1.09.
• If you are borrowing $260,000 on a 30-year loan, this week's 7.18% means a payment of about $1,761 a month, principal and interest only. That is about $11 less than at last week's 7.24%, and about $166 more than at the year-ago 6.22%.
• If $150,000 of a retirement account tracks the S&P 500, Thursday's drop took about $6,600 off the balance, and the week about $4,050. Held since January 1, the same account is still up roughly $10,850 for the year.
• If a married couple here earns $112,500 (about the 77354 median) with two children, the 2027 numbers cut their federal income tax by about $336 against 2026, on the same pay.

The default, if nobody in the house does anything at all: a balance that dropped Thursday has sold nothing and owes no tax, a fixed mortgage already signed stays where it is, and the 2027 brackets apply on their own, with no form to file to get them.

Sources this week: the Associated Press index tables for Thursday and Friday as published by KRMG; NBC News via KTVZ; CNBC on Friday's oil settlements; AAA's Texas gas prices as of November 7, 2026; the BLS Employment Situation for October 2026 and its CPI schedule; the Federal Reserve meeting calendar; Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey of November 5, 2026; GoldDealer on gold and silver closes; the Rio Times; Fortune on Bitcoin; congress.gov action pages for S. 4487 and H.R. 8552, read November 7, 2026; the American Legion; the IRS release IR-2026-133 and Revenue Procedure 2026-35. A dated CME FedWatch probability for December is left out because the paper could not read one from a source before publication.

Saturday Morning · Not money news

This weekend around Magnolia

• Today, 9 a.m.: the Veterans Day celebration and dedication of THE LINE at Veterans Memorial Park, 1776 Freedom Blvd., Conroe. Details in this week's preview.
• Today, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: the City of Magnolia Fall Festival at Unity Park. Free.
• Today, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: the Montgomery County Children & Families Expo, 11659 FM 1488. Free.
• Today, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Grace Chapel's Autumn Market and chili cook-off, 31101 FM 2978.
• Today, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.: the Texas Makers Market at St. Paul Lutheran, 21088 FM 1488, with the mobile vet clinic. Free. In Montgomery, the Lone Star 1st Saturday Market runs 9 to 3.

Texas outdoors

The general white-tailed deer season opened at legal shooting time this morning and runs through January 3 in the North Zone, which includes Montgomery County, on the Texas Parks and Wildlife calendar. This weekend is also the North Zone's youth and veterans duck hunt. More in Texas Outdoors.

More dates through December are on the paper's fall and holiday calendar.