[expat_panama]

Good morning!  So far it's light trade w/o big price swings --perfect for vacation time and it's true for both metals (hanging on) and stocks ("flat in half session").   We even got "crude prices steady above $60 in thin Christmas trading"!   This morning we're wrapping up our 'part-time' week as futures peg stock indexes up +0.16% and metals down -0.45%. 

Other active econ threads:

• High GDP Numbers for Q3? We Can Thank Obamacare and Forced Consumer Spending
• Merry Christmas from Texas to the World
• The Destruction Of The Middle Class Is Nearing The Final Stages
• Vanity: How does the economy feel near you?
• New York Times Insider: Multi-Million Dollar Shortfall Causing Drastic Cuts

[1010RD]

Merry Christmas to you. Hope you’re well and thanks for all you do.

As a point of order, shouldn’t we, when discussing oil prices and the topic of Libya comes up, remind everyone that the blood, rape, mayhem and chaos in Libya is a direct result of Democrat meddling - thanks Hillary and Barak (blood on their hands).

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Lot of markets closed for Boxing day. This is the day we pay homage to Joe Louis, Cassius Clay, Max Schmeling and the rest.

[abb]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/job-engine-running-low-on-gas-as-energy-costs-tumble-1419619419?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

Job Engine Running Low on Gas
Sharp Drop in Energy Prices Pinches Employers in the Oil Patch, Spurring Layoffs

By Jeffrey Sparshott
Dec. 26, 2014 1:43 p.m. ET

U.S. oil and gas companies have been an engine of economic growth through much of an otherwise lackluster economic expansion, providing steady employment, solid wages and fierce competition for workers across the country.

Now, after a roughly 50% plunge in oil prices, exploration and production companies are cutting capital budgets, service companies are weighing layoffs and nonenergy firms that popped up to support the industry are bracing for a slowdown.

Houston-based Hercules Offshore Inc. is laying off 324 employees, roughly 15% of its workforce, because oil companies aren’t renewing contracts for its offshore drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico while crude prices are depressed.

“It’s been breathtaking,” said Jim Noe, executive vice president of Hercules. “We’ve never seen this glut of supply and dislocation in oil markets. So we’re not surprised to see a significant decline in demand for our services.”

It is a possible early sign of what’s to come for the broader industry as the sharp drop in oil prices is set to dim what had been one of the brightest patches of the labor market.

Within the narrow set of sectors most closely related to oil and gas extraction, including oil-field services and equipment manufacturing, employment jumped by 56% to almost 758,000 jobs from the start of 2010 through October, compared with a nationwide gain of only 10%.

Wages in such industries also saw a marked increase, the data showed. Average earnings for workers in oil and gas extraction, for example, climbed 21% to more than $1,700 a week over that period, not adjusting for inflation. That compares with an 11% increase to $848 for all workers.

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