In the energy market Friday, oil tumbled, with crude for December delivery closing at $63.91/barrel, down $3.90. December reformulated gasoline arrived as front-month contract by slumping 13.3 cents, to $1.3625/gallon.
Consumer shows spooky signs of weakness… recession now unavoidable? How’s your 401(k)? Some scary stats on the average retirement savings plan. Haunting mortgage data… 10 million Americans suffer “negative equity”. U.S. finance capitalism dead or dying… Byron King on the new paradigm for global economic power. Eric Fry on investing during the post-crash bounce. Plus, one “surefire” sector during these frightening times.
“Employers are moving to aggressively cut jobs and reduce costs in the face of the nation’s economic crisis, preparing for what many fear will be a long and painful recession,” says The Washington Post.
The labor market has been weak all year, with a slow drip of workers losing their jobs each month. But the deterioration of the job market is now emerging as a driver of economic distress, according to a wide range of data and anecdotal reports from corporate America.
In September, there were more mass layoffs — instances in which employers slashed 50 or more jobs at one time — than in any month since September 2001, the Labor Department said yesterday. And nearly half a million Americans have…
¨The oil price hike is not only generating chaos in countries due to food riots but has also created transport strikes in Europe. There are shortages and even one death, ¨ says Paola Pecora.
With consumer confidence now testing generational lows, our politicians are, nevertheless, continuously assuring us that the economy is strong and that there is no cause for worry.
It’s enough to set off one’s contrarian radar. I mean, predictions of $200-a-barrel oil have been everywhere over the last week. CIBC analyst Jeff Rubin, with an eerily accurate track record of previous predictions, kicked it off last week with a forecast of $225 by 2012 with $7 gasoline to match.
Why are some companies starting to get real excited? Don’t they know what happens when the financial system goes dryer than Ms. Spears in rehab?
The credit crunch has upset the world-view of modern economists. As the Federal Reserve has discovered, the conventional tools aren’t working how the textbooks say they should, writes Robert P. Murphy.