STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday 24 February

[ozymandius]

Thursday February 24, 2005

COUNTING THE DAYS
DAYS REMAINING IN THE * REGIME 3 YEARS, 330 DAYS
DAYS SINCE DEMOCRACY DIED (12/12/00) 4 YEARS, 73 DAYS
WHERE'S OSAMA BIN-LADEN? 3 YEARS, 129 DAYS
DAYS SINCE ENRON COLLAPSE = 1187
Number of Enron Execs in handcuffs = 19
ENRON EXECS CONVICTED = 2
Other Arrests of Execs = 54

---

U.S. FUTURES & MARKETS INDICATORS
NASDAQ FUTURES-----------------------------S&P FUTURES

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AT THE CLOSING BELL ON February 23, 2005

Dow... 10,673.79 +62.59 (+0.59%)
Nasdaq... 2,031.25 +0.93 (+0.05%)
S&P 500... 1,190.80 +6.64 (+0.56%)
10-Yr Bond... 4.27% -0.02 (-0.40%)
Gold future... 436.10 +0.30 (+0.07%)





GOLD, EURO, YEN, Dollars and Loonie

---

PIEHOLE ALERT

Heads Up!
Preliminary info on appearances by Bush & Co. throughout the country. Details & links are added as they become available so check back. And if you know more, are organizing something, or would like to, contact [email protected]

For information on protests and other actions Citizens For Legitimate Government

---

[RawMaterials]

1. Morning Ozy, One more Great Toon

I'm Surprised that they having called the new budget, the "No Debt" budget. Since a nice name is a great supplement to actually reading a document.

[ozymandius]

12. I am really surprised they haven't tried to rehash old

names like the "Square Deal" budget or the "New Deal" budget.

We could give it one of our own - call it the "Raw Deal".

[RawMaterials]

17. Or the

Bend over and take it like a man budget.:spank:

[RawMaterials]

2. Europe gold hits fresh 7-wk high, eyes weary dollar

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Gold prices probed higher on Thursday, squeezing out a fresh seven-week peak above $435, with sentiment buoyed by dollar weakness.

Dealers said the year's high of $437.50 reached in early January was within sight, but further dollar falls were needed to entice investor cash.

"What we have seen is that gold has been well supported when it has dipped -- another surge will see us go past this $437.50 level," Paul Merrick, vice president for commodities at RBC Capital Markets, said.

snip..

Bullion market analysts have said that gold should see a fourth year of gains after the price scaled its highest in 16-1/2 years in December at $456.75 per ounce.

They said the major driver for gains on gold would be dollar weakness on worries over how the world's biggest economy will fund its gapping deficits.

"Sentiment towards the bullion market continues to improve, with the recent pattern of higher highs and higher lows likely to attract renewed fund interest," HSBC metals analyst Alan Williamson said in a daily report.

]Consumer demand for gold jumped seven percent in 2004 -- the first rise in four years -- with sharp price rises failing to deter buyers, the industry-backed World Gold Council (WGC) said


http://www.fxstreet.com/nou/noticies/afx/noticia.asp?font=Reuters&pv_noticia=MTFH72421_2005-02-24_11-51-51_L24441819

[Maeve]

3. Jobless claims up 9,000 in week

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Jobless claims reversed course and rose in the latest week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The number of initial claims in the week ending February 19 rose 9,000 to 312,000.

This is the first increase after three straight weekly declines.

The increase was higher than expected. The consensus forecast of Wall Street economists was for claims to rise to 308,000.

http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BF2BAF7B5%2D086B%2D4236%2DA2D5%2D4AA271B9E880%7D&siteid=mktw

[ozymandius]

9. Greetings Maeve! Thank heavens it's Maeve Day.

(Please allow me to state the obvious.) It really is a coin toss to see what the markets will do with this news. Either there will be lamentation over the increased number of unemployed, and fewer mainstream consumers, or the markets will celebrate shrinking payrolls and the resulting higher company profits.

[RawMaterials]

15. But in the long run isnt that going to snip up in the

as*, with less and less people paying taxes. Thats not going to help the budget.

[ozymandius]

18. If re-employment rates remain stagnant

then that's exactly what it means. I cannot count the number of recent news items that show how American companies are doing more with less people. The economy is growing incrementally but without hiring new people.

[Changenow]

4. Is the price of oil going up all over the world

or does the declining dollar mean that we feel it more profoundly? What is the connection between the value of the dollar and the increasing price of oil?

My question reveals how little I understand the economy.

[cthrumatrix]

5. since oil is priced in dollars ...as dollar goes down -- oil goes up

if you held Euro's your price for gas would not be rising nearly as much

[htuttle]

6. Over the last few years, I think it's gone up more for us

Since oil is priced in dollars, and the dollar has dropped against most world currencies (and dropped substantially against the Euro), we've seen a higher price hike than elsewhere.

In fact, until oil hit $40 or so, it hadn't gone up in euros at all for a couple of years (if I'd been calculating the exchange rate correctly).

[RawMaterials]

7. One other thing to note

is if you priced the DOW in euros it has not gone up at all in the last 4 years, actually i think it has gone down.

[RawMaterials]

8. Fed Is Split on Whether to Set Inflation Target: John M. Berry

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The dogged debate among Federal Reserve officials these days is not over whether to raise their target for the overnight lending rate again next month. They will, for the seventh meeting in a row, by a unanimous vote.

Rather, the issue that has more or less split the policy makers down the middle is whether the Federal Open Market Committee should set an explicit inflation target, either a single number or a range.

snip..

Targeting Has Complications

Targeting has been an enormous help in taming inflation in some countries, such as Britain and New Zealand. In countries in which the central bank has already achieved low and stable inflation rates, there is only scant evidence that targeting has made much difference.

In the U.S., adoption of a target is greatly complicated by the fact that the Fed has a dual mandate. It is charged by law with achieving both stable prices and maximum employment.

In practice, the Fed has maintained -- and Congress has accepted -- the position that the best way the central bank can contribute to maximizing sustainable employment is to achieve price stability. No number is attached to either goal

snip...

Some Supporters

As for adopting a target, ``those who believed such a move would be on balance beneficial cited, for example, its usefulness as an anchor for long-term inflation expectations, as a vehicle for enhanced clarity of Committee deliberations, and as an additional tool for communications,'' the minutes said.

``Several of those who saw greater potential drawbacks were concerned that such a shift might appear to be inconsistent with the committee's dual mandate of fostering maximum employment as well as price stability or that it might inappropriately bias or constrain policy at times; in any case, with inflation expectations well-contained over recent years, the benefits of announcing a specific inflation objective were not likely to be large,'' the minutes said.

snip..

Change in Personnel'

``Nonetheless, the U.S. economy has enjoyed most of the benefits ascribed to inflation targeting in terms of anchoring inflation expectations as well as inflation itself. It is the focus on long-term price stability that has fostered these benefits, and I believe that this focus will not be at risk with a change in personnel at the Federal Reserve.

``Considering these points, I am skeptical that for the United States the potential benefits of changing to a regime of inflation targeting would outweigh its possible costs,'' Kohn concluded.

Of course, the ``change in personnel'' to which Kohn referred is Greenspan's looming retirement.

One piece of powerful evidence about how well inflation expectations are anchored is the decline in yields on long-term U.S. Treasury security yields that followed the Fed's decision last June to begin to raise its overnight lending rate target.

There are undoubtedly several factors behind that extremely unusual fall in long-term rates. High among has to be the Fed's credibility for fighting inflation, and since investors know Greenspan's tenure is set to end in less than a year, they must believe that the basis for that credibility rests with the institution rather than just with the current chairman.







http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&refer=columnist_berry&sid=aK.1wzRFveik

[MARALE]

10. U.S. durable orders fall 0.9% in Jan.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?siteid=mktw&dist=&column=economic%20report&

Total orders for durable goods sank 0.9 percent in January as demand for civilian aircraft plunged by 27.1 percent, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Excluding the 5.3 percent drop in orders for transportation goods, new orders increased 0.8 percent, surprising strength given the expiration of a tax break at the end of 2004 that economists suspected would slow investment growth in the early months of this year.

Orders in December were revised higher to a 1.4 percent gain from 1.1 percent previously.

...

Durable goods orders are extremely volatile, particularly for big-ticket items such as airplanes. A loss in one month can be made up with the stroke of the pen in the next. For instance, Boeing Co. (BA: news, chart, profile) won a new order for 140 planes from Ryanair on Thursday, worth about $4 billion. See full story.

[RawMaterials]

11. Iron ore deal worries steelmakers

Steel companies around the world are resisting a steep rise in iron ore prices after a second settlement between Japanese steel mills and a supplier of the raw material.
ADVERTISEMENT

Rio Tinto yesterday became the second big mining group to lock in a 71.5 per cent price increase for iron ore in negotiations with Nippon Steel, Japan's biggest steelmaker.

snip..

But analysts said that the highly concentrated nature of the iron ore industry, where three companies control 80 per cent of the market, meant that steep price rises would be hard to resist.

The iron ore producers, who experienced several lean years before the current boom, feel they are justified in asking for much higher prices considering the growing demand for steel.

“This price increase represents unprecedented demand for our products, driven by the continuing growth in steel consumption, particularly in China,” said Sam Walsh, chief executive of Rio Tinto's iron ore group.



http://news.ft.com/cms/s/881430b2-85ca-11d9-9011-00000e2511c8.html

[RawMaterials]

13. Honey, I Shrunk the Dollar - FRIEDMAN

have just one question about President Bush's trip to Europe: Did he and Laura go shopping?

If they did, I would love to have been a fly on the wall when Laura must have said to George: "George, do you remember how much these Belgian chocolates cost when we were here four years ago? This box of mints was $10. Now it's $15? What happened to the dollar, George? Why is the euro worth so much more now, honey? Didn't Rummy say Europe was old? If we didn't have Air Force One, we never could have afforded this trip on your salary!"

The dollar is falling! The dollar is falling! But the Bush team has basically told the world that unless the markets make the falling dollar into a full-blown New York Stock Exchange crisis and trade war, it is not going to raise taxes, cut spending or reduce oil consumption in ways that could really shrink our budget and trade deficits and reverse the dollar's slide.

snip..
If you see a continuing slide of the dollar - some analysts believe it needs to fall another 20 percent before it stabilizes - you could see a substantial, and painful, rise in interest rates

Given the number of people who have refinanced their homes with floating-rate mortgages, the falling dollar is a kind of sword of Damocles, getting closer and closer to their heads," Mr. Rothkopf said. "And with any kind of sudden market disruption - caused by anything from a terror attack to signs that a big country has gotten queasy about buying dollars - the bubble could burst in a very unpleasant way."

Why is that sword getting closer? Because global markets are realizing that we have two major vulnerabilities that this administration doesn't want to address: We are importing too much oil, so the dollar's strength is being sapped as oil prices continue to rise. And we are importing too much capital, because we are saving too little and spending too much, as both a society and a government.

"When people ask what we are doing about these twin vulnerabilities, they have a hard time coming up with an answer," noted Robert Hormats, the vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International. "There is no energy policy and no real effort to reduce our voracious demand of foreign capital. The U.S. pulled in 80 percent of total world savings last year ." That's a big reason why some "43 percent of all U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds are now held by foreigners," Mr. Hormats said.

snip..

On Monday, the Bank of Korea said it planned to diversify more of its reserves into nondollar assets, after years of holding too many low-yielding and depreciating U.S. government securities. The fear that this could become a trend sparked a major sell-off in U.S. equity markets on Tuesday. To calm the markets, the Koreans said the next day that they had no intention of selling their dollars.

Oh, good. Now I'm relieved.

"These countries don't have to dump dollars - they just have to reduce their purchases of them for the dollar to be severely affected," Mr. Hormats noted. "Korea is the fourth-largest holder of dollar reserves. ... You don't want others to see them diversifying and say, 'We'd better do that, too, so that we're not the last ones out.' Remember, the October 1987 stock market crash began with a currency crisis."

When a country lives on borrowed time, borrowed money and borrowed energy, it is just begging the markets to discipline it in their own way at their own time. As I said, usually the markets do it in an orderly way - except when they don't.



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/24/opinion/24friedman.html?

[RawMaterials]

14. Pre-Market Blather

9:15AM : S&P futures vs fair value: flat. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -3.0. Futures market still signaling a rather lackluster open for the cash market... Thus, look for a mixed beginning with the indices hovering fairly close to the unchanged mark

9:00AM : S&P futures vs fair value: +0.4. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -3.0. Still little enthusiasm seen in the futures market as current indications continue to trade close to or slightly below fair value... Boeing (BA) has received a $4 bln order from Ryanair while JC Penney (JCP) has beaten expectations and Dynegy (DYN) has posted a narrower than expected Q4 loss of $0.47... Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO) should be in focus after being downgraded at RBC Capital while other notable ratings changes include upgrades on FNM, LOW, MAS and WFC

8:33AM : S&P futures vs fair value: +0.2. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -3.0. Futures trade holds relatively steady following economic data, still indicating a slightly lower to neutral start for the indices... Jan Durable Orders have checked in much weaker than expected, down 0.9% (consensus +0.1%), with ex transportation coming in at +0.8%, better than street expectations of +0.3%... Weekly jobless claims rose 9K to 312K (consensus 308K)

8:00AM : S&P futures vs fair value: flat. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -2.0. Futures market suggesting a flat to slightly lower open for the cash market as investors await economic data... Also contributing to the subdued action has been another surge in oil prices toward $52/bbl ahead of the EIA's weekly oil report... Viacom (VIA.B) has beaten Q4 estimates by $0.03 but issued downside FY05 guidance while Limited (LTD) has also beaten analysts' forecasts but guided Q1 EPS below consensus... At 8:30 ET, Jan Durable Orders (consensus +0.1%) and initial claims (consensus 308K) will be released

6:38AM : S&P futures vs fair value: -0.2. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -2.0.

6:38AM : FTSE...4990.30...+1.80...+0.0%. DAX...4298.86...-11.80...-0.3%.

6:38AM : Nikkei...11531.15...+30.97...+0.3%. Hang Seng...14060.91...+102.97...+0.7%.

[ozymandius]

16. WrapUp by Mike Hartman - DOLLAR DAMAGE CONTROL IN FORCE

The tone for the markets was established early this morning when the Labor Department released the data for the Consumer Price Index. Expectations called for a gain of 0.2% in both the headline CPI number and the core rate. The index cooperated by posting a fourth consecutive monthly gain of 0.2% to the core CPI, but lower than expected for the headline number at 0.1%. This is no big news as the numbers tend to be massaged to mute inflation within our monetary system and economy.

The second piece of news that came early had much to do with damage control after yesterday’s announcement from South Korea that they intend to diversify foreign reserves away from the U.S. dollar. This morning the dollar gained after Japan and South Korea said they have no plans to reduce their holdings of U.S. dollars. Taiwan also jumped on the bandwagon by saying they haven’t been selling the U.S. currency. There you have it…now South Korea is telling us they were just kidding around with talk of reducing their exposure to U.S. dollars.

-cut-

The Fed has been VERY active in managing our “inflation expectations.” Perception becomes reality when they continue with this constant mantra that inflation is well contained. Now Mr. Greenspan is saying inflation is “well anchored.” I read well anchored as meaning it’s here to stay for a while. Nobody can twist the meaning of words or find more descriptive generalities that leave much room for interpretation than the Fed. So much for transparency…how is the word “anchored” to be translated into financial terms? Inflation should be anchored here in the U.S. to remain for quite a long time.

-cut-

There have also been some recent comments on Mr. Greenspan being in a “conundrum” as to why long-term interest rates have been declining since he began raising short-term interest rates. He told Congress last week he was puzzled by the recent action in the bond market. Mr. Greenspan stated, “Bond price movements may be a short-term aberration, but it will be some time before we are able to better judge the forces underlying recent experience….The broadly unanticipated behavior of world bond markets remains a conundrum.” If Alan Greenspan is having a difficult time understanding what is going on in the global financial markets, we should all be concerned.

more...

http://financialsense.com/Market/wrapup.htm

[ozymandius]

19. 9:32 and the markets are open for bidness

Dow 10,668.77 -5.02 (-0.05%)
Nasdaq 2,029.84 -1.41 (-0.07%)
S&P 500 1,190.66 -0.14 (-0.01%)
10-Yr Bond 4.238% -0.03
NYSE Volume 14,547,000
Nasdaq Volume 53,805,000

[ozymandius]

20. Cautious start on tap for U.S. stocks as crude rises

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - U.S. stocks were looking at a cautious start Thursday morning as rising crude-oil prices dampened sentiment on Wall Street.

-cut-

The Labor Department reported that first time claims for state unemployment benefits rose 9,000 to 312,000 in the latest week. It was the first increase after three straight weekly declines and topped the consensus forecast that claims would rise to 308,000. See Economic Report.

Separately, the Commerce Department said orders for new U.S.-made durable goods sank 0.9 percent in January as demand for civilian aircraft plunge. Orders in December were revised higher to a 1.4 percent gain from 1.1 percent previously. Economists were looking for orders to be unchanged in January.

-cut-

Crude prices were climbing toward $52 a barrel, undermining the positive sentiment seen Wednesday after a better-than-expected reading on consumer inflation.

more...

http://biz.yahoo.com/cbsm-top/050224/f56c2e88c6f4f99eafee6d90a7844f57_1.html

[Maeve]

22. All over the place in the first hour

Been up a tad, down a bunch, back up...currently:

Dow 10,666.99 -6.80 (-0.06%)
Nasdaq 2,030.06 -1.19 (-0.06%)
S&P 500 1,190.54 -0.26 (-0.02%)
10-Yr Bond 42.38 -0.30 (-0.70%)
NYSE Volume 282,892,000
Nasdaq Volume 458,689,000

[MARALE]

21. Lawmakers Seek to End Business Boom Behind Bars

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4505313

Thousands of prisoners are hard at work on manufacturing lines, making everything from shoes to furniture -- and earning millions in profits for federal prisons.

But many lawmakers and private manufacturers want to put a stop to these behind-bars industries, which they say are stealing jobs from American workers.

...

"Our workers are competing against China, they're competing against South Korea, Japan," Hoekstra says. "The last thing they need to be doing is competing against American workers who are in jail."

But others argue that prison work is a key element of rehabilitation for inmates. "If you don't do something to try to change the behavior, then it's like a big revolving door," says Miles Appleton, a foreman at a factory run out of the State Correctional Institution in Dallas, Penn. "When they get back outside, the person that's complaining about them doing work is maybe the one assaulted by one of these fellas."

I just found this statement funny, don't know why. I say let them work, they are Americans too. They need to learn the skills and have something to do when they get out.

[davhill]

24. Labor costs that compete with China

If prisons become too profitable, corporations will start to pressure on the legal system to put more "workers" behind bars. Perhaps it is already happening. That would explain the US having an obscenely high incarceration rate.

[MARALE]

23. Stewart's firm plots 'rebirth' from legal woes

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7018946/

...
So it's no surprise that television producer Mark Burnett -- creator of the hit show "Survivor" -- is waiting on the outside to produce Stewart's own version of "The Apprentice." She'll also have a new syndicated show from NBC and appearances on the "Today" show. (MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)

...

Stewart will get a talent fee, but Omnimedia has no stake in the project, only in her syndicated show, which needs to win back viewers. At the magazine, ad pages are down 70 percent and revenues down 65 percent. The only thing making money now is her licensing deal with Kmart, soon to marry Sears. Omnimedia's stock may have tripled since she went to jail, but analysts say once she's out, all her plans may not help the stock.

"I think Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia the company will be very much helped by the endeavor," said Gary McDaniel, an analyst at Standard and Poor’s. "Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia the stock, MSO -- I don't think is going to see any benefit from this because it's already been bid up to a point that there's no conceivable way the earnings could materialize to support the valuation it's at now."

Still, others remind us, the company is flush with cash and no debt. So it can afford to wait a few of these endeavors out, see which seedlings will grow and if indeed Stewart's green thumb will translate to green on the books.

[RawMaterials]

25. 11:43 Market Update and Blather

Dow 10676.60 +2.81 (+0.03%)
Nasdaq 2029.34 -1.91 (-0.09%)
S&P 500 1191.17 +0.37 (+0.03%)
10-Yr Bond 4.264% -0.04

NYSE Volume 573,643,000
Nasdaq Volume 847,111,000



11:30AM : Choppy session of trade continues as market internals remain mixed... Advancers on the NYSE hold a slim 8 to 7 edge over decliners while declining issues on the Nasdaq hold a 17 to 11 margin over advancing issues... The ratio of up to down volume also reflects a similarly mixed bias at both the Big Board and the Composite... Meanwhile, the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq all continue to hover above initial support levels of 10650, 1187 and 2024, respectively, as respective resistance levels of 10700, 1193 and 2039 remain well within reach...NYSE Adv/Dec 1605/1472, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1102/1729

11:00AM : Equities improve their stance following better than expected weekly oil data and a subsequent sell off in oil prices but gains are short-lived... Crude oil futures, which were up more than 1.0% at around $51.75/bbl ahead of the Energy Dept.'s weekly oil inventories report, reversed course and fell to session lows following the data but have since rebounded to $51.60/bbl (+$0.43)...

While crude oil inventories only rose 600K barrels, versus an anticipated 1.3 mln barrel increase, gasoline inventories and distillates checked in better than expected, rising 1.8 mln barrels, (consensus +1.45 mln barrels) and falling just 700K barrels (consensus -1.88 mln barrels), respectively...NYSE Adv/Dec 1661/1367, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1261/1495

10:30AM : Indices continue to fluctuate around the flat line, as neither buyers nor sellers show much conviction early on... Internet stocks, however, have been hit rather hard following downgrades on two of the group's largest names... Concerns about pricing power has prompted RBC Capital to downgrade Google (GOOG 183.37 -10.58) from Top Pick to Sector Perform and lower its price target to $200 (from $250) while indications of weakness at Yahoo's (YHOO 30.46 -1.66) Overture unit has forced RBC to lower its rating on YHOO to Sector Perform from Outperform...

The launch of Time Warner's (TWX 17.67 -0.05) new local directory search service on AOL has also invited selling pressure within the space...NYSE Adv/Dec 1252/1670, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 959/1683

10:00AM : Market still trades with a tinge of caution following a mixed batch of earnings and guidance... Shares of Viacom (VIA.B 35.49 -0.25) have fallen after posting an $18.4 bln Q4 loss and guiding high-single digit growth from FY04 EPS of $1.54 for FY05... Excluding the charge, VIA.B beat forecasts by $0.03 while other S&P constituents like JC Penney (JCP 44.02 -0.13), Newmont Mining (NEM 44.68 -0.05) and Limited (LTD 23.39 -0.33) also beat analysts' expectations...

LTD, however, has guided Q1 EPS below consensus while Staples (SPLS 31.46 -0.35) has matched expectations and Dynegy (DYN 4.31 -0.33) has posted a narrower than expected Q4 loss... Separately, the Energy Dept is expected to show that crude supplies increased by 1.2 mln barrels, gasoline supplies climbed 1.4 mln barrels, and distillates fell 1.75 mln barrels at 10:30 ET...NYSE Adv/Dec 1538/1120, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1214/1231

9:40AM : Sluggish start for stocks as investors digest another surge in oil prices and mixed economic data... Jan durable new orders declined 0.9%, much worse than the expected 0.1% increase, but orders excluding the volatile transportation component, were up 0.8%, better than street expectations of +0.3%, suggesting that orders will rebound in the months ahead and that the underlying trends remain reasonably strong... Meanwhile, initial claims rose 9K to 312K, slightly higher than forecasts of 308K and last week's figure of 303K, but checked in below 315K for the third straight week...

Also, the four-week average of 308,750 is at its lowest level since Nov. 2000, clearly reflecting improvement in terms of a lower level of layoffs...

[MARALE]

26. Working-age people with jobs on decline

The share of the working-age population working or actively seeking a job -- known as the participation rate -- fell to 65.8 percent in January, the lowest reading in 17 years, according to numbers collected by the Labor Department.

...

Economists offer a variety of factors behind the decline: a loss of factory jobs, where some are unqualified to snag other jobs; people getting out of the 9-to-5 grind to go back to school; people deciding to be a stay-at-home mom or dad; and people abandoning job searches because they can't find a job at a pay level they want.

The participation rate hit an all-time high of 67.3 percent in early 2000 -- when the economy was still roaring and employers had a hardy appetite to hire workers. After that, the rate slowly drifted downward as the economy suffered through the 2001 recession and then struggled to recover.

These days the economic expansion is firmly rooted, but job growth, while improving, is still somewhat sluggish. Companies keeping a close eye on profit margins are still showing caution in hiring as they cope with high energy bills and soaring health care costs for workers, economists say.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1263078

I saw this and had to post it here too, all this talk about how the economy is good leaves these people out.

[MARALE]

27. UPS to Close Ohio Air-Freight Hub, Cutting 1,400 Jobs

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=avIH62RoWiDw&refer=us

United Parcel Service Inc., the world's largest package-shipping company, said it will close an Ohio air-freight hub acquired in December, eliminating 1,400 jobs, because the location doesn't fit its network.

The center at the Dayton, Ohio, airport will shut down in mid-2006, spokesman Norman Black said today in an interview. Atlanta-based UPS got the facility as part of its $150 million purchase of CNF Inc.'s Menlo Worldwide Forwarding unit, which arranges air and ocean shipments for customers.

UPS said it decided to close the Dayton hub because of ``significant redundancies'' in its air-freight network and what it acquired with the Menlo unit. UPS also plans a new building to sort heavy freight, next to one of its seven U.S. centers for moving packages, Black said. He didn't give the location.
...
The company said in October when it announced the Menlo purchase that the acquisition would add more overnight and two- day air shipments of heavier freight. The unit had annual sales of about $1.9 billion and 8,000 employees.

Ohio does not need this!

[MARALE]

28. U.S. Two-Year Treasury Notes Fall After $24 Billion Government Auction

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/markets/bonds.html

I don't know a lot about the auctions, but this did not sound good.

U.S. Treasury notes fell after the government auctioned $24 billion of two-year securities at a higher-than-forecast yield, a sign of weak demand.

...

``Definitely, the auction was a lot weaker than people expected,'' said Rick Klingman, head of Treasury trading at ABN Amro Inc. in New York, another primary dealer. ``Indirect bidders were light.''

Indirect bidders, the class of investors that includes foreign central banks, bought 31.8 percent of the securities sold, compared with 29.7 percent in the previous auction.

...

Investors may be reluctant to buy two-year notes on signs that the Fed will raise its interest-rate target at its next two monetary policy meetings to keep inflation in check.

[MARALE]

29. Stocks in afternoon advance

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B430C73D8%2D0F48%2D4815%2DB052%2D74016336178C%7D&siteid=mktw

Setting the tone for most of the day's trade was volatility in crude prices as traders assessed conflicting reports on the state of U.S. petroleum and product supplies, and as a key OPEC figure said high prices are seen for the rest of the year.

"We sort of thought we had gone through that wall for already, and all of a sudden the last week and a half it's crept up again in terms of price and in terms of worry, and I just really think that we thought we were going to be over that," said Mark Bryant, senior vice-president at Brean Murray.

...

In the latest economic news, the Commerce Department reported that orders for new U.S.-made durable goods sank 0.9 percent in January as demand for civilian aircraft plunged. Economists were looking for orders to be unchanged in January. See Economic Report.

Separately, the Labor Department that first time claims for state unemployment benefits rose 9,000 to 312,000 in the latest week. It was the first increase after three straight weekly declines and topped the consensus forecast that claims would rise to 308,000.

[RawMaterials]

30. Closing Number and Blather

Dow 10748.79 +75.00 (+0.70%)
Nasdaq 2051.70 +20.45 (+1.01%)
S&P 500 1200.20 +9.40 (+0.79%)
10-Yr Bond 4.281% +0.13

NYSE Volume 1,517,545,000
Nasdaq Volume 2,024,479,000



Close: Tenacious late-day buying, spurred by a sell off in oil prices, shrugged off a lackluster session initiated by mixed earnings, guidance and economic data... With the market's performance so closely linked to oil prices over recent weeks, coupled with corporate news somewhat taking a backseat to inflation worries, higher interest rates and macroeconomic issues, an early surge that pushed the commodity to a new four-month high and inched its past $52/bbl midday had stocks cautiously fluctuating around the flat line most of the session...

But last minute profit taking closed the April futures contract roughly where it opened, at $51.15/bbl (+$0.02)... That, along with signs of oversold conditions, pushed the major indices through key technical levels, turned market internals more bullish and closed virtually every sector in positive territory, as the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq finished near their highs of the day...

Nearly every S&P component (i.e. VIA.B, JCP, NEM, LTD) out with earnings today reported better than expected results, but ongoing concerns of decelerating EPS growth following some disappointing outlooks (i.e. LTD, DYN, HMT) prompted the selling pressure that lingered until the final two hours of trading... An initially disappointing read of -0.9% on Jan durable orders (consensus +0.1%) and an unexpected rise in jobless claims to 312K (consensus 308K) also weighed on equities and subsequently lifted treasuries to their best levels of the day...

But upon further examination, the orders data, excluding transportation, still showed that underlying trends remained reasonably strong while initial claims did come in below 315K for the third straight week, knocking the four-week average to 308,750 (its lowest level since Nov. 2000), suggesting an improving labor market... Meanwhile, weekly oil inventories rose 600K barrels (consensus +1.3 mln), gasoline inventories rose 1.8 mln barrels (consensus +1.45 mln) and distillates fell 700 K barrels (consensus -1.88 mln)... With regards to sector strength, homebuilding (+3.6%) paced the day's gains in the wake of better than expected Q1 earnings and strong FY06 EPS guidance from Toll Brothers (TOL 87.41 +3.16)... Technology was strong across the board, led by semiconductor (+2.4%) which was lifted by a surge in shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 17.49 +0.89)...

Energy, transportation, materials, utility and biotech also posted gains in excess of 1.0%... Failing to take advantage of the market's rebound were Internet stocks, Google (GOOG 188.97 -4.98) and Yahoo (YHOO 31.48 -0.64) were both downgraded at RBC Capital Markets... Treasuries, which succumbed to modest selling pressure following an unimpressive bond auction, never did regain early morning momentum, as the 10-year note declined 4 ticks to yield 4.27%... The $24 bln 2-year note auction awarded investors 3.498% with an indirect bidder participation of 31.8%...

The dollar finished relatively flat against the euro (1.3204) but climbed 0.5% against the yen (105.35) while the Jan Help-Wanted Index checked in at 41 (consensus 38), hitting the highest level in two years, but had no impact on the overall market...DJTA +1.9, DJUA +1.1, DOT +0.7, Nasdaq 100 +1.4, Russell 2000 +1.1, SOX +2.4, S&P Midcap 400 +1.2, XOI +1.5, NYSE Adv/Dec 2297/1085, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1905/1217

3:30PM : Market showing no signs of slowing going into the close as a renewed wave of buying lifts the indices even higher... With earnings season winding down, economic data should be the main focal point tomorrow as investors will get a preliminary read on Q4 GDP (consensus +3.7%) and the Chain Deflator (consensus +2.0%) at 8:30 ET and Jan Existing Home Sales (consensus 6.7 mln) figures at 10:00 ET... CCU and KSE will be the only S&P components reporting quarterly results before the bell while MCIP, which is expected to report Q4 earnings of $0.45, should also be in focus...NYSE Adv/Dec 2177/1160, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1805/1309

3:00PM : Stocks continue to trade at improved levels although the recent recovery effort seems to have stalled... On the Dow, ExxonMobil (XOM 60.70 +1.28) has again benefited from higher energy prices while shares of Boeing (BA 53.36 +0.64) have advanced after Ryanair placed a $4.0 bln order for 140 its 737-800 series aircrafts... Gains of more than 1.0% in other components, such as CAT, GE and MO, have offset weakness in DIS (-1.5%) and HD (-1.0%)... NYSE Adv/Dec 2064/1265, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1692/1397

2:30PM : Major market averages propel to their best levels of the session as oil prices fall toward their lows... Late day profit taking in crude oil futures ($51.00/bbl -$0.17) in the final minutes of commodities trading has renewed enough broad-based buying support for equities to lift nearly every sector into the green and turn market breadth bullish for the first time today... Upside momentum has also been augmented by potentially oversold conditions and the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq recently breaking through initial resistance levels of 10700, 1193 and 2039, respectively...NYSE Adv/Dec 1870/1443, Nasdaq Adv/Dec 1588/1480

[loudsue]

31. UP??? Up 75 points?? I'm getting market whiplash!

Thanks, Marketeers, for reporting another fun day at the casino!!

:hug:

:kick::kick: