Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of online job-search maven Monster Worldwide (NYSE: MWW) plunged to new 52-week lows, as far as 12.2% below Wednesday's closing price, before bouncing back to a less terrifying 8% fall.

So what: The Fed just reported another rise in unemployment claims, which is horrible news for placement services in this ultra-tight job market. The pain is shared with other job finders -- both LinkedIn (Nasdaq: LNKD) and Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI) dropped as much as 7%, and Dice (NYSE: DHX) rolled to a 9.3% value loss.

Now what: Sector-wide effects notwithstanding, Monster has suffered more than anyone else in the sector -- so far in 2011, the stock is down by more than 67% and still trades at 170 times trailing earnings. If the company can turn things around before this job market kills it, Monster becomes a very exciting bounce play -- and the balance sheet is still in decent shape. But maybe we should wait before taking the Monster plunge, lest we'd catch a falling knife long before hitting the ground floor.

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