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Investors should stop worrying about the jobs data
Historically, stocks have surged following gloomy reports
On Friday, the Labor Department released its employment report for December. You’re no doubt already aware of the data; 524,000 more jobs were lost in December, making for a total of 2.6 million lost in 2008. The losses have been accelerating, with 1.9 million jobs lost in just the last four months. The unemployment rate rose from 6.5% in November to 7.2% in December.
The comparisons being made are bleak. For instance, it’s being pointed out that the 2.6 million jobs lost in 2008 were the most since World War II ended in 1945,…
U.S. Companies “Throw in the Towel”- Pushing Jobless Claims to a 26-Year High
The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rocketed to a 26-year high last week, surpassing already gloomy forecasts, as the U.S. economy sinks deeper into recession.
Initial applications for jobless benefits climbed by 58,000 to 573,000 in the week ended Dec. 6, upwardly revised from 515,000 the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department reported yesterday (Thursday). The figure was the highest since 1982, and far exceeded the median projection of 525,000 put forth by 39 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
The increase was due, in part, to a bounce from the week before, which was shorter because it…
12Dec2008 | Money Morning | 0 comments | Continued4 new reports reveal battered economy
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer
(AP:WASHINGTON) The government released a quartet of reports Wednesday that paint a bleak picture of the nation’s economy: Jobless claims remain at recessionary levels, Americans cut back on their spending by the largest amount since the 2001 terrorist attacks, orders to U.S. factories plummeted and homes sales fell to the lowest level in nearly 18 years.
The Labor Department reported that initial requests for unemployment benefits fell to a seasonally adjusted 529,000 from the previous week’s upwardly revised figure of 543,000. But claims remain at recessionary levels. The four-week average, which smooths out fluctuations, rose to 518,000, its…
26Nov2008 | INO | 0 comments | ContinuedSoaring PPI Coupled with Plunging Housing Starts Spotlights Struggling U.S. Economy
U.S. companies were hit with the largest annual jump in wholesale prices in 27 years during July, while housing starts dropped to their lowest level in 17 years, the latest indicators that ruinous stagflation is tightening its grip on the U.S. economy for the first time in decades.
“Inflation is way too hot and with housing way too cold, we have the opposite of a Goldilocks economy,” Joel Naroff, president and chief economist of Naroff Economic Advisors, said in a note to clients after two separate U.S. government reports were released.
The Labor Department announced that the producer price index…
20Aug2008 | Money Morning | Comments Off | Continued
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