Market Recap: Stocks Close Mixed as Jobs Recovery Counters Debt Crisis
- Posted on January 5, 2012 at 4:38pm by
Becket Adams
- Print »
- Email »
Markets closed mixed on Wall Street today:
- Dow -0.02 percent
- S&P+0.29 percent
- Nasdaq +0.81 percent
- Oil -1.45 percent
- Gold +0.68 percent
On the commodities front:
- Oil (NYSE:USO) fell to $101.72 a barrel
- Gold (NYSE:GLD) rising to $1,623.70
- Silver (NYSE:SLV) climbed 0.62 percent to settle at $29.28
(Related: Discounts Boost December Retail Sales But Hurt Profit Margins)
Today’s markets were mixed because:
1) Euro: Stocks fell sharply in early trading today after the euro declined to a 15-month low versus the dollar. The sell-off came as investors were rattled by more turmoil in European sovereign debt markets. French borrowing costs climbed at a bond auction today where the government fell slightly short of its fundraising goal. Spanish bond yields popped after a government official said Wednesday that Spanish banks would need to set aside another 50 billion euros as part of a restructuring of the nation’s financial sector, and Italian yields again jumped back above the key 7 percent level. And though the European Financial Stability Facility received decent demand for its new three-year bonds, it paled in comparison to demand for its 10-year bond offering last January.
2) Jobs: The Labor Department today reported that initial claims for unemployment benefits declined last week to 372,000, while the four-week moving average fell 3,250 last week to 376,500 — the lowest since June 2008. On Friday, the Labor Department will issue its monthly employment report, but today ADP released its monthly report on private-sector employment, which estimates that the U.S. economy added some 325,000 private-sector jobs in December.
3) Auto: Strong auto sales helped support stocks throughout the day, with Detroit’s big three automakers — General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler — on track to be profitable in 2011 when they report earnings in the coming weeks, something they haven’t achieved since 2004. And industry analysts forecasting even better industry-wide sales in 2012.
[Editor’s note the above is a cross post that originally appeared on Wall St. Cheat Sheet.]
Comments (7)
Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In
Popular Stories
Does Misstated Marathon Claim Prove Paul Ryan Is Dishonest? (POLL) 706 Comments
Paper Details Obama Admin’s Alleged Secret Note Sent to Iran: If Israel Attacks, We Won’t Get Involved 550 Comments
‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 367 Comments
This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 363 Comments
Roseanne Barr: Most Billionaires ‘Violent Pedophiles’ & ‘Heartless’ Cocaine Addicts 361 Comments
Faith
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 363 Comments
Pakistani Muslim Cleric Accused of Framing Disabled Christian Girl in Koran-Burning Case Read More- ‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 367 Comments
Meet the Controversial German Imam Accused of Brutally Beating His Wife & Pushing Sharia Law Read More
‘Self-Proclaimed Messiah’ & Unification Church Leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Has Died — Here’s His Life Story Read More
Business
- President Obama Issues Major ‘Green Energy’ Executive Order 281 Comments
- Germany’s Upcoming Court Ruling Will be Huge for the EU Read More
Ford Looks to Beat Toyota for Best-Selling Car in 2012 With This Model 149 Comments
Bernanke & QE3: Here’s What You Need to Know Read More- ‘Extortion’: Why Did the Labor Department ‘Drop the Hammer’ on Oregon Farmers? 302 Comments
Technology
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 363 Comments
‘TaserDrone’: Hackers Weaponize Quadcopter With Actual ‘Shocking’ Technology Read More
Ever Heard of the Wild ‘Burning Man’ Festival in the Middle of the Nev. Desert? Here’s Your Primer Read More
Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery Read More
Have You Pretended to Know What ‘the Cloud’ Is? You’re Not Alone Read More
Submitting your tip... please wait!
SageWolf
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 1:39pmPublished on ZeroHedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)
Home > Real Jobless Rate Is 11.4% With Realistic Labor Force Participation Rate
One does not need to be a rocket scientist to grasp the fudging the BLS has been doing every month for years now in order to bring the unemployment rate lower: the BLS constantly lowers the labor force participation rate as more and more people “drop out” of the labor force for one reason or another. While there is some floating speculation that this is due to early retirement, this is completely counterfactual when one also considers the overall rise in the general civilian non institutional population. In order to back out this fudge we are redoing an analysis we did first back in August 2010, which shows what the real unemployment rate would be using a realistic labor force participation rate. To get that we used the average rate since 1980, or ever since the great moderation began. As it happens, this long-term average is 65.8% (chart 1). We then apply this participation rate to the civilian noninstitutional population to get what an “implied” labor force number is, and additionally calculate the implied unemployed using this more realistic labor force. We then show the difference between the reported and implied unemployed (chart 2). Finally, we calculate the jobless rate using this new implied data.
Report Post »carbonyes
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 9:16amSame old, same old, we’re still sliding down the slippery slope, heading towards the precipice.
Report Post »Maidoff101
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 7:08amIf my memory serves me, just 6-8 yrs ago when U.E. was around 4.6 to 5 % Dem politicians, and MSM were all doom and gloom about the state of the economy, yet clueless on what Fannie and Freddie were creating, Now at 8.6 to 9% everything seems to be just fabulous, and were on the rebound, while the Fed tries go back to the F&F days of 2006. Something terribly wrong with this picture.
Report Post »susancarrollz
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 2:29amA simple secret to reduce your auto insurance Call your insurance agent or the company and let him know you are “Thinking” of moving your policy since it is high, most of the time they reduce the rates check “Clearance Auto Insurance” website for more tips.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on January 5, 2012 at 7:43pmI bet… on 42 Red!
Report Post »lel2007
Posted on January 5, 2012 at 6:22pmGosh! Only yesterday “the market” was hopeful … of something, I can’t remember what. These “market analysts” that sum-up and report this crap have as much credibility as the standard “weather man”.
Report Post »HumbleMan
Posted on January 5, 2012 at 6:07pmThe “Jobs Recovery” is smoke and mirrors. I‘m sure I don’t need to explain that the Fed’s are twisting the numbers to make people feel less bad about having less income and paying more hidden taxes (e.g. $350/gal gasoline). And oh great, the Euro-tards are in bigger trouble than we are (for now).
Report Post »