Some more news on the economic front this morning …
* Mortgage applications plunged in the week ended September 26, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The purchaseindex dropped 10.9% from the previous week, while the refinance index tanked 34.7%. At 304.8, the purchase index is thelowest since February 2002. Interest rates were relatively stable (6.07% on the 30-year, down slightly from 6.09% aweek earlier).
* The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas counted 95,094 job cut announcements inSeptember, up 7.2% from August and up 32.6% from a year earlier. Computer firms led the list of announced cuts at about25,700 in September. Automotive companies were next at just under 15,000, with apparel (8,350) and financial firms(8,244) next.
* On the other hand, the ADP Employment report was less negative than expected. It showed the economy losing just 8,000jobs in September, compared with a forecast of -50,000. August’s figure was revised down to -37,000 from -33,000. ADPsays small businesses actually increased their payrolls — by 28,000 — while medium sized businesses trimmed 30,000workers and large businesses shed 6,000. The goods-producing sector lost 72,000 jobs, while the service sector added64,000 workers.
I have a hard time believing these jobs figures will hold up going forward, and the market appears skeptical as well.After losing a couple of ticks, the long bond futures are back around the morning’s high.
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Amazing all the experts commenting on one of the most mis-understood aspects of our economic markers: the unemployment rate. American un/under employment is at levels most of you couldn’t believe. People, following the “dot com”
(false Y2K) employment bust, went into business for themselves. While housing & free money kept them solvent, now those opportunities are long gone. And not one of them is included in the unemployment figure. Wake up, things are much worse in the
Real World than the “experts” know. A country cannot send over 3 million jobs to other countries and expect that those left with no money will still be able to support themselves. I’m dismayed by the lack of reality that our government and the experts
are seeing. Yes, corporate profits & GDP were up, but they were up not based on American contributions, but third world countries. We traded our middle class for cheap socks and a richer elite.
FOX news mentioned this morning that there is $56.5 BILLION of earmarks(PORK) that have been added to the $700 billion “bailout bill”–Why isn’t there more press on what the “cement heads” are pulling ???