The close:
RTGAM






During the month that investors have learned to fear as one of the bumpier four weeks to be in the market, indexes around the world tumbled by double digits.


Still, it could have been worse: The Dow Jones industrial average had been down almost 25 per cent during the month, to its low point on Oct 27. Since then, though, it has rallied about 14 per cent, leaving it down 14 per cent for the month.


Canada's S&P/TSX composite index made similar moves. It had been down as much as 27 per cent during the month, but has rebounded more than 14 per cent from its low. It exited October nursing a loss of 16.9 per cent.


On Friday, major North American indexes moved in different directions. In the United States, the Dow closed at 9325.01, up 144.32 points or 1.6 per cent. The broader S&P 500 closed at 968.73, up 14.64 points or 1.5 per cent.


A late surge gave financials a big lift, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. rising 9.7 per cent and Bank of America Corp. rising 6.1 per cent, on renewed efforts by JPMorgan to prevent foreclosures among U.S. homeowners. As well, Home Depot Inc. rose 3.8 per cent and General Electric Co. rose 0.8 per cent.


In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index closed at 9762.76, down 93.45 points or 1 per cent - thanks largely to commodity producers, which had helped propel the index to gains of more than 350 points on Thursday. Goldcorp Inc. fell 8.1 per cent, EnCana Corp. fell 2.3 per cent and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. fell 2.4 per cent.


Meanwhile, financials didn't help much either: Although Toronto-Dominion Bank rose 0.9 per cent, Royal Bank of Canada fell 1.6 per cent and Manulife Financial Corp. fell 3.5 per cent. The biggest offset was Research In Motion Ltd., which rose 5.5 per cent.