There’s a lot to get to this morning… but front and center is the Jobs Jamboree Friday… The first one of 2012, although it is December’s job creation report. The ADP jobs report yesterday, which was supposed to be the “indicator” for the Jobs Jamboree, but never really materialized as such, reported that 325,000 jobs were created in December… Now, that would be something to crow about… It will be interesting to see what the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) comes up with… As I told you earlier this week, this is also the month were the “adjustments” to previous BLS reports are made… However, those won’t get a spotlight, and mass media coverage… They are done under the dark of night, sort of like the bill that was signed on New Year’s Eve by the President… If you’re not aware of that one, you should be… Your personal freedoms could very well hang in the balance…
[Read more...]Full Employment is Easy
First up, the market noise…
Stocks worldwide were up big time yesterday, mostly buoyed by news that the politicos in Europe had “renewed their commitment to talk about trying to eventually come to an agreement” about how to fix a problem they themselves caused and did not see coming. Or something like that. Bravo.
[Read more...]What to Make of Obama’s Jobs Speech…Before it Even Happens
Attention comrades, workers and tax slaves! Tonight is the night! Get your tickets! Turn your televisions up and sit your buts down!
From the people who harass your small business…from the folks who regulate your entrepreneurial spirit into submission…from the clerks who mandate outsourcing, expropriate your profits and who cannot “create” one job without first destroying two, comes…
[Read more...]Counting the Zeros in the US Economy
Poor Mr. Obama. They’re calling him “President Zero.” Why? Because August produced zero new jobs.
But we Daily Reckoners were way ahead of the story. Almost everywhere we look we see a circle with a hole in it.
How many new jobs have been created in the last 10 years? Zero.
[Read more...]The Continuing Delusion of Economic Recovery
“The people will be crushed under the burden of taxes,
loan after loan will be floated; after having drained the
present, the State will devour the future.”
– Frédéric Bastiat, French libertarian economist, 1850
Stocks managed to eek out a bit of a rally yesterday. The Dow was up nearly 100 points by the session’s close. (Approximately equal to the amount it gave back within the first sixty seconds of trading today.) Gold, meanwhile, is up $8 over the past 24 hours. An ounce this morning goes for just over $1,540. And bitcoins…they’re back to $14.50 a piece. Hmmm…
[Read more...]Perpetual Investor Confidence
Yesterday, the Dow rose 109 points. Gold went up $4. The 10-year US note is still trading below 3% yield and oil is still below $95.
So, what’s new? The markets seem still to be wondering…waiting…watching to see what happens – just as we are.
The Greek premier won a confidence vote in parliament. That seemed to give investors some confidence. The idea is that if the Greeks can act like they know what they’re doing, the rest of Europe can give them some more money.
[Read more...]The Dividing Influence in the US Job Market
For 6 weeks, the Dow has been going down. It should be ready to bounce.
But stock market investors didn’t get a bounce yesterday. They didn’t take a loss either. It was a draw. The Dow closed 1 point higher than on Friday.
As for oil, it was down to $97. And gold lost $13.
Business profits have been near record highs. This is not a good reason to buy stocks. Profits are famously “mean reverting.” That is, they go back to normal pretty fast. Which should mean lower profits in the future.
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Jobs Data Sends Currencies and Gold Lower
Good day… And a Marvelous Monday to you! Congrats to the fans of the Big Blue, NY Giants, who are the Super Bowl Champions, after a very entertaining game. It’s very foggy out this morning here in St. Louis, reminds me of the time my beautiful bride and yours truly were driving home from Des Moines to St. Louis and a very dense fog was everywhere… Not wanting to stop, I cracked the car door open and kept an eye on the white line, which would keep me on the road… Thinking back now, that probably wasn’t a very safe thing to do, eh?
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