Unemployment, Russians, Wild Cards
Stocks went down 143 points today on the news of the unemployment rate. Bonds continued their slow decrease in interest rates.
The Dollar strengthened significantly – showing the strength of the currency futures market on currencies today – it is astounding to watch and see.
Gold went sideways.
Oil went down, and gasoline went up – showing the absolute manipulation of the gasoline market today.
In the news today…..
The unemployment rate came in at 7.2%. This is the start of 2009. I predicted this rate would hit 9% during this year. I now am revising this to be 10% by year end.
The volume of sales of wholesale goods fell 7.1% in November. This is an astonishingly large number. Inventories of these goods fell 0.6% in November. Reduced inventories together with reduced sales means a significant reduction in manufacturing – and this is just another indicator of the bad jobs market.
Internationally…..
AMEX raised the interest rate on the British Airways credit card to 46%. This is the highest rate in the UK today. This redefines the term usury.
Russia has turned off the gas to western Europe that is being shipped through the Ukraine. This loss of natural gas affects 12 nations and people have already started dying in Poland and Italy from lack of heat in the harsh winter. NATO has offered to allow the use of its military natural gas pipelines to help alleviate this problem. The introduction of NATO into this equation just heightened this potential “wild card.” Watch this spot for future escalation of this massive energy power play by Russia.
Here are Today’s numbers:
Dow Jones 30 Industrial – 8599 (down 143 points)
10 Year Treasury Bond – 2.41% (down 0.04%)
Euro – $1.3493
Gold – $855 (up $1)
Oil – $40.83 (down $0.87)
Gasoline – $1.11 (up $0.02)
