Posted on 09/05/2003 7:39:27 PM PDT by riri
Investors who spent the week bidding stocks higher reversed course Friday after the latest labor statistic
Despite Friday's losses, the Dow industrials rose 0.9% for the week, its fifth-consecutive weekly gain, and the Nasdaq gained 2.6%.
Nonfarm payrolls dropped 93,000 last month, the steepest in five months, after falling a revised 49,000 in July, the Labor Department said early Friday. The unemployment rate edged down to 6.1%. Economists had predicted an increase of 12,000 in nonfarm payrolls and expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 6.2%.
Economists weren't impressed.
"The jobs report is just awful," said Bill Cheney, chief economist for John Hancock Financial Services in Boston. "I still lean toward believing that spending by consumers, government and businesses adds up to enough to generate a self-sustaining cycle of income gains and job creation. But it's definitely cause for concern about the outlook."
Strong productivity has allowed companies to increase output without increasing workers.
The latest report did offer some glimmers of hope. There was a slight increase in temporary hiring last month, a possible precursor to companies bringing on more full-time employees. Some economists remain confident the accelerating economy will soon leave employers little choice but to start hiring when improved productivity alone isn't enough to meet demand.
Among stocks to watch Friday, Intel finished flat after the company late Thursday raised its third-quarter sales forecast. The chip maker now expects revenue between $7.6 billion and $7.8 billion, in the upper range of its Aug. 22 forecast of $7.3 billion to $7.8 billion.
Wal-Mart shed 2% after Banc of America Securities analyst Aram Rubinson cut his investment opinion on the company's stock to "neutral" from "buy," saying comparable-store sales are "unlikely to see any further acceleration" after reaching 6.9% in August.
Verizon Communications late Thursday struck a deal with two unions representing some 79,000 of its employees after weeks of negotiations. Its shares moved down almost 1%.
In major U.S. market action Friday:
Stocks declined. On the Big Board, where 1.45 billion shares traded, 1,785 stocks fell and 1,463 rose. On the Nasdaq, where about 1.95 billion shares changed hands, 1,780 stocks declined and 1,409 advanced.
Bonds gained. The 10-year Treasury note rose 1 1/4 points, or $12.50 for each $1,000 invested. The yield, which moves inversely to price, fell to 4.349%. The 30-year bond was up about 1 7/8 points to yield 5.185%.
The dollar was mixed. It traded at 116.88 yen, up from 116.74 yen late Thursday in New York, while the euro rose to $1.1106 from $1.0941.
Your history ends in about 1920 or so. The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 deregulated the railroads considerably, and now they're very competitive, and doing very nicely.
That's obvious
All right, fair enough: I specifically meant that the railroads were largely replaced by trucking. The industries grow, mature, and often die. In the present context, the point is that throughout all of our history some jobs and entire professions were lost --- to other industries, sometimes American and sometimes foreign.
Those b----ing today act as if that happened only to them, and it's all due to Daddy Bush. Programmers scream most of all. I have not heard them complain when they were making absolutely obsene money in 1990s. The businesses wised up since then.
Golden: Tariffs.
Come again?
If you charge by each word, then please do keep your wisdom to yourself.
I do not believe our eyes should be on the non-farm payroll figures. These are reported by the large companies in our economy and most of these have been laying off workers. Most of these layoffs are and will continue to be absorbed by the smaller private companies that exist under the radar scope of the collection mechanism of this figure.
I think a better thing to watch is the unemployment claims which have continued to drop since the turn-around in late June or July. If this continues to go down (btw, it is not high at all from a historical perspective) and falls beneath 6% which should happen over the next couple of months, then I think we can know that even the lagging indicator has finally turned around.
Just my opinion, but when you see big business adding tons of jobs you can mark it down that you are witnessing the beginning of the end of an economic upturn and not what this article would suggest as the end of the beginning.
Remember, an optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds, while a pessimist fears this is true.
You free traders kill me. When wages are driven down by too many workers, that is fully acceptable.
When wages are high it is unacceptable and bringing foreign labor in to drive wages down is fully approved.
I have always wondered what made people fall in line under the likes of Lenin, etc. Now, I am starting to see.
You free traders kill me. I did not tell you were I stand on the issue overall.
When wages are driven down by too many workers, that is fully acceptable. I did not say that either: it is what it is. Just like the weather, sometimes it is opportune, sometimes it's against us individually.
When wages are high it is unacceptable and bringing foreign labor in to drive wages down is fully approved.
Totally wrong. Not a person has ever tried to bring the wages down. The foreign labor was designed to reduce the shortfall. That is, the rationinig of labor is what brings about BOTH the foreign labor and high wages.
What I have pointed out was that it is those who were making a killing exploiting the shortages in 1990s now complain most when companies found the way of dealing with those shortages. That's all.
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