The S&P 500's Biggest Movers

The S&P 500 slipped 0.7% last week to 1,079.6 as third-quarter earnings season moseyed along. Investors continue to search for answers about the economy's outlook in individual company earnings releases. Eighty-one percent of companies that have reported so far have beat expectations, but investors are looking for more evidence of top-line growth.

Pops and drops
Here are the five biggest S&P 500 pops and five biggest S&P 500 drops of last week (measured Friday close to Friday close):

Winners on the week:

Source: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's).

Losers on the week:

Source: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's).

A look at some of the movers
New York Times posted a narrower-than-expected third-quarter loss as continued layoffs and subscription collections helped to shore up the newspaper's bottom line. Ad sales continued to wane, but the company said that the ad environment improved "modestly," with the online area showing the most life.

Shares of Amazon finished the week up after the online retailer clocked a blowout third quarter. As my Foolish colleague Rick Munarriz writes, the company posted an impressive 69% climb in third-quarter earnings, which were driven by a 28% increase in net sales. Amazon also issued a rosy outlook, stating that fourth-quarter sales are expected to rise a healthy 21% to 35% versus last year.

California is suing State Street, alleging that the investment management firm overcharged two of California's pension funds -- California Public Employees' Retirement System and California State Teachers' Retirement System -- by $56.6 million for foreign currency trades.

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