Stocks Sputter After November Job Report

AP:

Wall Street paused from its big rally Friday, with the major indexes fluctuating after the government's November labor report showed tepid job growth as well as a pickup in inflation.

The Labor Department reported 94,000 jobs were added to payrolls in November and that the unemployment rate held steady at 4.7 percent. Thomson/IFR analysts had set a median projection of 100,000 new jobs. The report also showed that average hourly earnings increased 0.5 percent in November, compared with forecasts for a more-modest 0.3 percent.

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[init]

Iran dropped the dollar today; who else will follow suit?

[workingboy]

OMG! more jobs ..... guess Mickey Dee, Wendy, Arby and Wal-Mart are staffing up. Where I live, jobs have been outsourced by the thousands yet the local MSM insist there is strong job growth and low unemployment rates.

Service Economy = Flipping Burgers!

[loki]

Ford closes plants in America mulling new opportunities in China

Ford Motor Co, which is selling off parts of its automotive empire and closing plants in North America, is mulling a new car plant in China to meet growing demand, state media said Tuesday.


Ford closes plants in America mulling new opportunities in China
Ford closes plants in America mulling new opportunities in China


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"We are gauging the need for further expansion of our manufacturing capacity," said Kenneth Hsu, spokesman for Ford's China operations, according to the China Daily."

http://english.pravda.ru/business/companies/04-12-2007/102196-ford_cars_china-0

[MIKEBC]

WE NEED 150,000 PER MONTH JUST TO KEEP EVEN, I MISS THE GOLDEN YEARS OF CLINTON, HE HAD AS MANY AS 230,000 CREATED PER MONTH, AND UNDER THE DEMS STUDENTS HAD 4-5 JOBS TO PICK FROM LAST DECADE, AND NOW UNDER THE GOP, STUDENTS HAVE A DEBT SENTENCE!

[loki]

I cant quite fathom the mentality of wall street. For months they downplayed downturn in stocks all the time claiming it was only a short term 'correction' , nothing to fret about .

Then , a day or two of a surge that is mediocre at best , and everyone from Kudlow to mickey mouse is claiming the Market has come back with vengeance.

The only other time you see actions like this is at Vegas or a religious revival.

[curiousasheck]

One can imagine the feelings of despondency creeping up the veins of the household lord and his lady as they contemplate the distress sale of their motorboat, jet skis, snowmobiles, and RV -- and the futility even of trying.

[ErnestineBass]

But...but.­..but...wh­at happened to Wednesday's market rally on brought on by news that *189,000* new jobs had been created?

WHASSS UP WITH THE FRIGGIN' NUMBERS???

[mmckinl]

What new Jobs ?

They can fudge the numbers but they can't fake the numbers. And now some real numbers courtesy of Rchard Benson

" For those familiar with the government releases, the Bureau of Labor Statistics ("BLS") just posted a benchmark data revision that showed the total number of workers employed on the payroll survey was 300,000 less than originally estimated for March 2007 (900,000 versus the 1,200,000 that was reported). By the time the dust settles, and later benchmark revisions come in for the whole year, it is likely that all of the jobs added by the BLS Birth/Death Model in 2007 will be fictitious. This could mean there hasn’t been any job growth at all! Without the fiction of job growth, you can imagine how much worse it will be for consumer income, spending, and sentiment not to mention business investment plans.

The reason employment is weak is because at least 40 percent of all job growth was tied directly or indirectly to housing. With housing in free fall, the solid job growth reported by the BLS Payroll Survey simply does not make sense.
The Department of Commerce keeps statistical estimates such as Personal Income, which is based on the estimated number of workers in the BLS Payroll Survey. So now, based on the revisions to the BLS Payroll Survey for March (and other data), revised Personal Income (wages, salaries, interest income, etc.) grew at an annual rate of only 1.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007, not the 4.5 percent originally reported. That’s three percent less in Personal Income. These imaginary workers with no Personal Income will not be shopping this December or anytime soon, so we can expect to see lower retail sales and corporate profits. Income never made, can't be spent. "

That's right folks they fudge the numbers up , then revise them down when the public isn't lookin! Did the media report the downward revision of 300,000 jobs ?
Did the media report the downward revision of personal income ? Now ya see it , Now ya don't ...

[Justinpassing]

HERE'S SOME MORE SPUTTER:
Krongard, Embattled State Department Inspector General, Retires

By Lorraine Woellert

Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard, who has been under investigation for possible conflicts of interest, said he will retire Jan. 15.

In a letter to President George W. Bush, Krongard said he is concerned about ``the grave threat to public service posed by the current rancor and distrust between and among the political parties, the legislative and executive branches of government, the media, and various interest groups.''

Representative Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Panel, is investigating whether Krongard interfered with investigations into waste, fraud and abuse to protect the Bush administration from political embarrassment. He said Krongard's retirement removes ``an enormous distraction'' from the inspector general's office.

Krongard denied having a political agenda, saying he ``never had any political ties whatsoever,'' in a Nov. 8 letter to a lawmaker.

Krongard's position was undermined when he denied under oath to Waxman's committee Nov. 14 that his brother had a business relationship with a security contractor that Krongard's agency was probing, and later admitted that such a relationship existed.

As the State Department's chief watchdog since May 2005, Krongard oversees audits, inspections and investigations in the U.S. and abroad. Bush nominated him for the position when he was a lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Several top officials in his office have resigned, and subordinates said he showed ``contempt'' for career employees, according to Waxman.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lorraine Woellert in Washington at lwoellert@­bloomberg.­net .