The employment report today, despite a negative headline number, actually showed some quite positive data. The unemployment rate dropped to 9.7% and there were other positives as well:
Employed rose by 541,000
Unemployed fell by 430,000
Labor Force rose by 111,000
Employed part time due to economic reasons fell by 849,000
Employed part time due to slack work or business [...]
The economic charts on our main site have been updated. Check it out by clicking here.
There were few surprises in the economic data this week. Retail sales were weaker than expected but otherwise most of the data continues to point to recovery, albeit weaker than we would like. Nothing this week changes my outlook.
Trade Balance: Both exports and imports rose; trade is slowly reviving. The deficit rose somewhat. A rising [...]
Non farm payrolls fell by 85000 in December and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 10%:
Nonfarm payroll employment edged down (-85,000) in December, and the unem-
ployment rate was unchanged at 10.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statis-
tics reported today. Employment fell in construction, manufacturing, and
wholesale trade, while temporary help services and health care added [...]
