Stocks post modest gains as job losses slow

Investors added to the week's strong gains in the stock market after finding some positives in a surprisingly weak jobs report.

[TiVo Girl]

"The Labor Department said the nation's unemployment rate topped 10 percent in October for the first time since 1983, but also that the pace of job losses slowed." Yet it still increased to 10.2%. Nothing like trying to put a spin on the truth.

"The rise in joblessness...reassured some investors that the Federal Reserve will have to hold interest rates low for some time. That tends to weaken demand for the dollar, which in turn gives a boost to stocks." Which only helps investors. It doesn't do anything to alleviate the unemployment rate.

"The jobs report bodes poorly for consumer spending, a key driver of the economy. Economists say stronger consumer spending will be necessary to sustain a recovery." Sustain a recovery? How about actually starting a recovery? Just because there was ONE quarter of growth does not mean the economy is recovering. Since the recession/depression began in December, 2007 there have been THREE quarters of growth, yet the unemployment rate has topped 10% despite the Odumba Administration saying that the Spendulus Bill would keep it from topping 8%, his self-congratulatory remarks about creating/saving 600,000 government jobs (not private sector jobs where the economy actually comes from), and despite his taking credit for the one measly quarter.

"The pace of job losses has accelerated and the rate is likely to go higher." Finally, some truth to the article. Nothing like burying it in the last line, guys.

[Owl Gore]

U6 now 17.5 (up from Sep 17.0)

They hide it under the ponderous link Table A-12. Alternative measures of labor underutilization

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.ht...

U.S. employers cut a deeper-than-expected 190,000 jobs in October, government data showed on Friday, driving the unemployment rate to 10.2 percent, the highest in 26-1/2 years.

The Labor Department said the unemployment rate was the highest since April 1983. It revised job losses for August and September to show 91,000 fewer jobs lost than previously reported.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected payrolls to drop by 175,000 and the jobless rate to edge up to 9.9 percent from 9.8 percent in September.

The labor market is being watched for signs whether the economic recovery that started in the third quarter can be sustained without government support. The economy grew at a 3.5 percent annualized rate in the July-September period, probably ending the most painful U.S. recession in 70 years.

Payrolls have declined for 22 consecutive months now, throwing 7.3 million people out of work since December 2007, when the recession started.