wall street braces for jobs report, page-27

meta;s are off and so are oil companies even though crude is higher BHP will get smashed

Freeport-McMoRan (FCX 99.52, -4.82), a mining company, and aluminum company Alcoa (AA 36.56, -1.81) are two of the main laggards. Both companies were downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Friedman Billings. Meanwhile, agriculture chemical company Monsanto (MON 108.06, -6.36) is posting a hefty -5.5% decline. This session's slide in corn (-3.5%), soybeans (-3.4%), and cotton (-5.3%) prices are weighing on the company's stock. Monsanto produces seeds for these and other commodities.

Despite crude trading at record levels (+0.4% to $105.92), energy (-2.1%) is a laggard this session. Exxon Mobil (XOM 82.81, -1.70) and Chevron (CVX 85.76, -2.04) are leading the decline. The refiners have been hit by decreasing profit margins. In other words, crude oil prices are increasing faster than gasoline prices.