Deal of the Day: How to get a lush tree for the price of Charlie Brown's reject.
If you haven't bought your Christmas tree yet, time is running out! Believe it or not it is only 3 weeks until Christmas so get out there this weekend to enjoy the holiday spirit.
I came across this article this morning from Smart Money of how to get the best deal:
http://www.smartmoney.com/spend/family-money/8-ways-to-trim-christmas-tree-costs-1322781563295/
Good Luck! Enjoy the experience and the Christmas season!
2) In the Markets today:
Fewer jobs than expected, 120,000, were created in November but jobless rate dropped to 8.6% as 315,000 job-seekers gave up looking.
A surprise drop in the U.S. unemployment rate initially sent stocks higher Friday, but they ended the day flat, capping a week of extraordinary gains.
The Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite all barely moved, the Dow losing less than a point to settle at 12,019.
Investors' moods were also buoyed by the German chancellor's tough remarks about fiscal discipline in the European Union.
The Dow Jones industrial average stayed above 12,000 throughout the trading day and is up 7.2% for the week, the biggest weekly gain since July 2009.
Bank stocks rose the most. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) jumped , the most among the 30 stocks in the Dow average. Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs Group (GS) gained .
The Labor Department said the unemployment rate fell to 8.6% in November, its lowest level in 2½ years. Economists had expected the rate to stay at 9%. But a key reason the unemployment rate fell at all was because roughly 315,000 people gave up looking for work and were dropped from the tally of the unemployed.
Employers added 120,000 jobs last month, well below the average monthly level of at least 200,000 needed for the economy to grow around 2.5% at an annual rate. Economists had forecast a gain of about 125,000 jobs for the month.
European stock indexes and the euro rose after German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a speech demanding tougher fiscal discipline in the region. Germany's DAX index closed 1.1% higher and France's CAC-40 rose 1.1%.
Merkel said the 17 countries that use the euro must quickly restore market confidence by making financial controls stricter. Bond yields for Spain and Italy fell, a sign that investors are becoming more confident in the ability of those countries to pay their debt.
Decisive steps by world leaders to right Europe's teetering economy sent stocks soaring on Wednesday. The Dow rose 490 points, its biggest gain since March 2009 and its seventh-largest one-day point gain in history. The weekly point gain of 812 is the second-biggest for the Dow in its history, following its 946-point gain in October 2008.
This week's strong stock performance is partially a reflection of the market's increased volatility since August, when the perception that Europe's debt was spinning out of control gained traction and dramatic stock price swings became the daily norm. Monday broke a 7-day slide for the S&P 500 that took the index down 7.9%.
The improvements in the U.S. job market are "another illustration that the US economy is, for now at least, shrugging off the global economic downturn and fears about the collapse of the euro-zone," Capital Economics Chief U.S. Economist Paul Ashworth said in a note to clients.
Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are meeting Monday to discuss treaty changes that can restore confidence in the euro's future. The talks will culminate in a Dec. 9 summit of EU leaders, where proposals are expected to be debated and detailed.
Most European markets rose about 2% on Merkel's remarks, and sky-high bond yields for Italy and Spain receded.
Benchmark oil for January delivery was up 42 cents to $100.67 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday. The contract lost 16 cents to end at $100.20 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.
In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.35 from $1.35 late Thursday in New York. The dollar rose to 77.86 yen from 77.76 yen.
In U.S. corporate news:
•Western Digital (WDC) soared . The data storage provider raised its revenue estimate for the current quarter and said that recovery efforts at its facility in Thailand following massive flooding there were proceeding faster than had been expected.
•Big Lots (BIG) slumped , the most in the S&P, after the retailer reported a 76%t plunge in income because of lower margins and a loss related to a newly acquired Canadian business. The company buys overstocked items, including food and housewares, and sells them at a discount.
•H&R Block (HRB) fell . The country's largest tax-preparation company reported a wider quarterly loss late Thursday. H&R Block also said there was a jump in claims tied to bad loans made by its former subprime mortgage unit.
3) Top financial story of the day:
The U.S. labor market added 120,000 jobs in November. The unemployment rate fell to 8.6%, its lowest level since March 2009.
Unemployment Slips to 8.6% as Private Sector Adds Jobs-From The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. labor market strengthened in November as private employers continued to add jobs at a healthy pace, while the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since March 2009.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 120,000 last month, the U.S. Labor Department reported Friday in its monthly survey of employers. Private companies added 140,000 jobs, while the public sector—federal, state and local governments—lost 20,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate, obtained by a separate survey of U.S. households, fell to 8.6% in November from 9.0% the previous month. The rate hadn't been below 9% since March, when it was 8.8%. The rate is now lower than at any point since March 2009, when it was 8.6% as well.
In another positive development, October's figure for nonfarm payrolls was revised upward to show a gain of 100,000 from a previously reported 80,000, while September was revised up to a 210,000 gain from 158,000.
The results, while confirming the labor market remains sluggish, were broadly positive. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires forecast payrolls would rise by 125,000 last month and that the jobless rate would remain at 9%.
The Labor Department data showed that some industries fared better than others. Retail trade rose by 50,000 jobs, with much of the increase occurring in clothing and electronics and appliance stores, the Labor Department said.
Leisure and hospitality jobs rose by 22,000, and professional and business services registered a gain of 33,000. Health-care jobs rose 17,000, while manufacturing changed little.
The number of unemployed, according to the household survey, fell by 594,000 to 13.3 million. A broader measure that accounts for both job seekers and part-time workers who would prefer to be working full time—the so-called underemployed—fell to 15.6% from 16.2% in October.
The latest figures—the broadest snapshot of the labor market—come fewer than two weeks before the Federal Reserve's next policy-making meeting. After taking steps in August and September to spur growth, the Fed is expected to pause until next year as it assesses the U.S. economic landscape and follows developments in Europe's financial crisis.
The jobs data are the latest sign that the economy is on firmer footing than it was just two months ago, when a rocky start to the year spurred fears of a double-dip recession. However, the jobless rate remains high, and threats to the U.S. economic recovery remain, including further turmoil in the euro zone.
Friday's report shows that Americans' hourly earnings declined by two cents to $23.18. Wages are up by 1.8% over the past 12 months, trailing overall inflation, which is at 3.6%.
4) Mackay's Moral:
It's not enough to know how to do things -- you must know why you do them.
No comments:
Post a Comment