Go "long on women" for profits, BofA Merrill says

Creating jobs
The national Unemployment Rate recently jumped to 9.8 percent; it has remained above 9.5 percent for more than a year. But some states have found ways to improve their jobs outlook, showing a much lower Unemployment Rate than the national average. The two states that recorded the largest drops in their Unemployment Rate are New Hampshire and Alabama, the Labor Department reported Friday in a study on state Unemployment. New Hampshire shows an enviable 5.4 percent unemployment rate, fourth low...

US corporations move to create a part-time, contingent workforce
Big employers in the US are increasingly using part-time and temporary workers to hold down labor costs, according to the latest figures from the Labor Department. In a trend that has been accelerated over the last two years, corporations are moving to phase out full time positions and create a Workforce earning far lower wages and fewer, if any, benefits that can be hired and fired at will. In November there were a total of 9.2 million "involuntarily part-time" workers in the US. After adding...

Worst in the country? Springs tops list of hardest places to find a job
Here’s a lump of coal in the city’s Christmas stocking: Colorado Springs tied for the worst job outlook in the country for the winter, according to a Forbes list based on the quarterly Manpower employment outlook survey. The Forbes.com report said that the Springs faces a 3-percentage-point Deficit in employment outlook for the First Quarter of 2011, meaning more employers are planning to cut staff than are planning to hire. Sharing a three-way tie with Colorado Springs at the bottom...

Manufacturing a Legacy
As Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm did an exit interview with WJR Talk Show host Mitch Albom, they spoke about the loss of outsourced Manufacturing jobs to other countries. “That is a circumstance that is not the Governor’s making,” Granholm said. Granholm told WXYZ TV: "It's just ridiculous. Would that the governor of Michigan had the power to control globalization or the global shift in Manufacturing jobs or the bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler. I don't have that power. Engle...

Economy Grew Modestly In Third Quarter
The economy grew at a moderate pace last summer, reflecting stronger spending by businesses to replenish stockpiles. More recent barometers suggest The Economy is gaining momentum in the final months of the year. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That's up from the 2.5 percent pace estimated a month ago. While businesses spent more to build inventories, consumers ended up spending a bit less. M...

2010 Census results: Winners, losers and everyone in between
The 2010 Census data was released today and the reapportionment of Congressional Districts alone is attracting attention, as PostPolitics reported: Republican-leaning states in the South and West that experienced a population boom over the past decade will gain political clout, while some historically Democratic states in the Rust Belt will lose it, according to Census Bureau figures released Tuesday aimed at ensuring proportional representation in the House. Eight states will gain Congress...

Michigan the only state of the union to see a decrease in population
according to CNBC, reporting a few minutes ago on the Census Bureau's population report. Michigan will discover that as a result of a depressed economy and a Manufacturing industry that has been dealt a death blow over the last ten years a large percentage of Michigan’s population has relocated to other parts of the country. Michigan is most certainly to lose one Congressional Seat, if not two. It also means that Michigan is also apt to lose Federal Funding. At the other extreme is D...

From laughing to judging in fifty years
A new study from NBC reveals how emotions generated from TV shows have mirrored American society. And 'judgment' is the current king of the charts. If you're on TV, whether in a drama or reality show, chances are that Americans are sitting on their couches, silently judging you. Those are the findings from a new study conducted by NBC Universal, which examined the top 20 broadcast programs (via Nielsen Ratings) of each year, over the past 50 years. NBC asked nearly 3,500 heavy TV-watchers, ages...

Unemployment benefits extension in tax-cut deal only goes so far
While Bipartisan tax Legislation signed by President Obama on Friday reinstates Unemployment Benefits for about 1 million it doesn't provide any additional help for those who have exhausted all 99 weeks. The $858 billion measure provides for an extension of federal Unemployment Benefits through the end of 2011 but only for those who have exhausted their 26 weeks of state jobless Insurance or who are working their way through the federal tiers. The White House, Democratic lawmakers and advoca...

Time to invest in tampons and Chardonnay.
image via Tampon Crafts. Women will recover faster from the Recession than men, which leads Economists to suggest investing in female-centered companies like Ann Taylor and Lululemon. Women will rebound from the U.S. Recession faster than men because females didn’t lose as many jobs as men did during the recession, the report said. Some of the industries most affected by The Economy, such as Manufacturing and construction, had more male than female workers. The Unemployment Rate for wome...

Economy 2011
After watching Rachel Maddow's show last night (12/20/2010) that was live from the 92nd Street Y, I had a good feeling in regard to The Economy. Her guest towards the end of the show was the famed Professor of Economics at New York University's Stern School of Business, Dr.Nouriel Roubini. When asked about the Economy and where he saw us, Dr.Roubini claimed that the Recession was over and that there is recovery, and over the course of 2011 we could see a 3% growth overall. But that is where the ...

Who Will Prosper in 2011
The worry lines are finally starting to fade. After 18 months of a stutter-step recovery, The Economy seems to be gathering steam. Most companies that survived the Recession are lean and profitable, and there's a good chance they'll begin hiring again in 2011. Consumers who have jobs feel better about their prospects, which means they'll be more comfortable spending money. The latest stimulus and tax-cut plan out of Washington is surprisingly meaty, with the impact likely to be felt in many Am...

Economy grew modestly in July-September quarter
The economy grew at a moderate pace last summer, reflecting stronger spending by businesses to replenish stockpiles. More recent barometers suggest The Economy is gaining momentum in the final months of the year. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That's up from the 2.5 percent pace estimated a month ago. While businesses spent more to build inventories, consumers ended up spending a bit less. M...

Economy grew modestly in July-September quarter
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Economy grew at a moderate pace last summer, reflecting stronger spending by businesses to replenish stockpiles. More recent barometers suggest the economy is gaining momentum in the final months of the year. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That’s up from the 2.5 percent pace estimated a month ago. While businesses spent more to build inventories, consumers e...

For Discovery Channel, Recession Miseries May Have Golden Lining
In early December, the Discovery Channel debuted a new program, Gold Rush: Alaska, which documents the prospecting efforts of Todd Hoffman, an Oregon landing-strip owner. In its three weeks on the air, the show's Ratings have steadily risen, and it's currently the top-rated Primetime series in several key demographics. At the same time, it has also offered an interesting glimpse into the history -- and future -- of gold prospecting in America. It's not hard to see why the show has hit pay dirt...

Data Suggests Fed Stimulus is Working
Bloomberg reports: Government Bonds are falling the most in a year as the gap between yields on longer-term Treasuries show that the Federal Reserve’s second round of Quantitative Easing may be its last. The difference between 10- and 30-year yields shrank to 1.05 percentage points, or 105 basis points, on Dec. 15 from a record 1.60 points on Nov. 10, the fastest contraction since the 1980s, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The shift in the so-called yield curve is taking place as Ba...

Oil Heads Toward $100...
The rise in Oil Prices could be just getting started, posing opportunities for investors—as well as challenges for consumers and hopes for US Economic Growth. Consensus estimates are for Oil Prices to rise to the $100-a- barrel range for 2010, a base case that would reflect a steady pace of Economic Growth. In an optimistic scenario, gains of that nature merely would reflect growth in the US economy and would not pose an obstacle to what is expected to be a more sustained pace of recovery...

Twin River stake purchased
A subsidiary of the New York private-equity company that owns the Harrah’s casino firm has notified Rhode Island it has purchased a share of the Twin River slot parlor in Lincoln. Louis A. DeQuattro, a Deputy Director and legal counsel for the State Department of Business Regulation, confirmed this morning that an arm of Apollo Global Management — Apollo Twin River Holdings LP — notified the agency Dec. 7 that it proposes to acquire more than a 5-percent stake in Twin River, th...

Cause for Canadians to worry? You betcha
Canada’s economic rebound out of Recession has run out of steam. Canadian real GDP posted a meagre 1 per cent annualized rate of growth in the Third Quarter, The Economy recorded a record high trade and current account Deficit of 4.2 per cent of GDP, and Job Creation virtually ground to a halt in the last quarter. And this despite government efforts to stimulate The Economy through infrastructure spending – which is scheduled to soon end. For a change, the U.S. economy outpaced Canad...

32 states borrow billions from feds to cover unemployment benefits...
BY MALIA ZIMMERMAN - Hawaii has applied to be the 32nd state to borrow from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration to pay state Unemployment Benefits. Hawaii will temporarily take up to $30 million this December to cover payments to the state’s 17,000 unemployed workers who lost their jobs within the last 26 weeks. That is the beginning of what will likely be an 18-month borrowing streak, says State Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Interim D...

As Hiring Falters, More Workers Become Temporary
Temporary workers are starting to look, well, not so temporary. Despite a surge this year in short-term hiring, many American businesses are still skittish about making those jobs permanent, raising concerns among workers and some labor experts that temporary employees will become a larger, more entrenched part of the work force. This is bad news for the nation’s workers, who are already facing one of the bleakest labor markets in recent history. Temporary employees generally receive few...

What the Rising Stock Market Doesn't Say About Jobs
If the Stock Market reflected the entire economy, then Americans could cheer the new annual highs in equity prices as a harbinger of good times ahead. But the Stock Market reflects only the outlook for corporate profits, not The Economy as a whole. Thus, the rising stock indexes are cold comfort for the millions of unemployed, temporary and part-time workers and self-employed who have seen their income decline and their prospects dim. To get a clearer picture of the jobs picture in the U.S., l...

Bank Of America's Latest Decoupling Strawman: Go Long Women
, a certain segment of women are already not only taking advantage of Banker generosity (whose proximal position to 0.25% discount rates must be milked by all), but translating this into Economic Growth: recently Rick's Cabaret announced it would be expanding its locations substantially in the new year, following unmet demand for its "services." In that regard, we couldn't agree more with BofA's analysis. ...

Japan's export growth sees boost in November
However, the November figure missed expectations for a 10.8 percent rise in a poll of Economists by Dow Jones Newswires. Analysts said the Japanese Economy remains locked in a trend of shrinking exports due to a stronger yen, which makes Japanese products more expensive in overseas markets, and expectations that overseas demand will weaken. "Japan's exports are slowing, a trend that remains the same," said Taro Saito, senior economist at NLI Research Institute. "The Economy continues to be press...

Recession forces rise in low-wage families, report says
The Great Recession, responsible for boosting Unemployment to its highest levels in a generation, has sharply increased the percentage of working people who earn wages so paltry that they are struggling to survive, according to a new report. This Story Recession forces rise in low-wage families, report says User Poll: What economic issue are you most concerned about? The share of Working Families earning less than double the official Poverty threshold - $43,512 for a family of four - increase...