Posts Tagged ‘unemployment rate’

(Michael Schwartz) - Could November go down in history as a major turning point in the U.S. economy? The shocking (in a positive way) unemployment report released last Friday by the Labor Department showed the economy lost only 11,000 jobs in November. The markets were bracing for a number well in excess of 100,000, according to CNBC. On top of that, revisions to the previous two months showed 159,000 fewer jobs were lost than initially reported. And, to complete the trifecta, the unemployment rate dropped to 10.0% in November, down from 10.2% in October. On the surface, this is extremely good news for the economy as it suggests the economy is healing nicely.

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(Lee Siler) - The nation's unemployment rate jumped to over 10% for the first time since October 1983. The consensus estimate was 9.9%, but the continued lay-offs being handed out by corporate America made the number jump to 10.2%. The news has sent stock futures plunging from earlier levels.

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(Lee Siler) - A deeper than expected jobless number has stocks reeling for the second day in a row. After suffering the worst one-day performance in months, the major averages are indicating a significantly lower opening. In September U.S. employers cut a worse than expected 263,000 jobs which took the unemployment rate from 9.7% to 9.8%. Analysts expected non-farm payrolls to drop 180,000 in September; this is a far cry from the actual number.

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(Lee Siler) - Yesterday, the market broke a four-day losing streak, as Wall Street was waiting for this morning's jobs report. Despite much speculation, the Labor Department reported that unemployment rose to 9.7% compared to an estimate of 9.5%. However, the news wasn't all bad, as U.S. employers cut a fewer-than-expected 216,000 jobs. The hike in the unemployment rate came from revisions the Labor Department did for June and July.

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(Lee Siler) - A surprisingly strong jobs report helped stocks jump more than 1% on Friday and more than 2% on the week. The unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped from 9.5% to 9.4% for the month of July. This news was clearly welcomed by investors, as well as President Obama, who said, "The worst may be behind us." Jobs were the one element in this bottoming process we hadn't seen until now.

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(Lee Siler) - A dismal jobs report on Thursday sent the market plunging before the 4th of July holiday weekend. The U.S. lost 467,000 jobs in June. That was more than expected and took the overall unemployment rate to 9.5%, the highest since 1983. Stocks dropped more than 2.5% across the board. At the same time the price of crude also tanked by more than 4%. A drop in crude prices should be conducive to an economic recovery, but it may also be a sign that the economy is still not on solid ground.

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(Lee Siler) - As the market continued to lack direction, the Federal Reserve announced that interest rates would be left alone for the foreseeable future. With the economy still at risk of a more significant downturn, monetary policy will remain status quot.

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