Markets salute mounting unemployment figures, Resources and euros: just two alternatives for the Chinese dragon, What happens when rates go up again? And three other ticking time bombs…

The unemployment figures are downright depressing. 2008 turned out to be the worst your for jobs since the end of World War II. Will 2009 be even worse? If we continue making triple-digit gains, will any of it even matter?

The People’s Bank of China continued nipping away at its one-year lending rate, cutting off 0.27 percentage points to 5.31%, its fifth rate cut in three months.

New home construction fell in November by the largest amount in a quarter-century, as builders slashed production while facing the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression.