Tom Hanna's Lifestream

Another indication that Friday's jobs reports will be bad came in with the Monster Employment Index down 22% year-to-year. It wasn't all bad news though, with jobless claims dropping by 21,000 and the weekly rate 15,000 below the 4-week moving average. With the Goldman Sachs prediction after market hours Wednesday of a 400,000 job loss number Friday and the down day on Wall Street Thursday, there is room for a number below analyst expectations to fuel a rebound in stocks Friday.Futures traders seem to be betting lightly on that Friday rebound, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average future trading up 30 points, the S&P500 future up 2.1 and the NASDAQ future up 2 points. Asian stocks were flat to up Friday, the Nikkei down 0.08% and the Hang Seng up 2.35%. Oil is up slightly, but still below the $45 mark and gasoline still below 99 cents. The dollar is up against the yen. The dollar is down against the Canadian dollar, euro and pound, but by less than 1/10 of a percent. Yesterday's Economic NumbersFactory Orders - October 2008 New Orders: $407.4 billion Monthly Change: Down 5.1%Jobless Claims - December 4, 2008 Initial Claims: 509,000 Change from Last Week: Down 21,000 Money Supply - December 4, 2008 M2 4-Week Average: $7915.0 billion M2 Annual Change (Unadjusted): $540.5 billionMonster Employment Index - November 2008 Index: 143 Monthly Change: Down 7 Year-to-year Change: Down 40 PointsThe best sign yet - Record jump in mortgage applicationsThe Mortgage Bankers Association reported a record weekly increase inmortgage applications as rates fell on long term Fixed Rate Mortgages(FRM) last week. Freddie Mac reported rates down for the week endingDecember 3, as well, though the rates were higher than the MBAAreported rates from the week ending November 28, possibly indicating aminor increase in rates early this week.Another round of rate drops from Europe, BritainThe European Central Bank and Bank of England both cut rates for the second month in a row.The Bank of England cut rates by 1%, following a 1.5% cut last monthand the European Central Bank cut by 0.75% on top of a 0.5% cut.UK Leading Index down more than 4% in 4 monthsUK leading economic indicators piled on the bad news for the future with a 1.7% drop in October, following drops of 0.7%, 0.6% and 1.1% the previous three months. The coincident index continued to hang on with another 0.1% increase. What I'm reading this morningFed Weighs Options as Europe Cuts RatesThe Fed is considering taking unconventional steps torevive the economy as central banks outside the U.S. cut rates moreaggressively.Housing Market Faces Broader IllsTreasury's proposal to push down mortgage rates is raisingthe housing industry's hopes but won't cure all the woes that havecurtailed sales.China, U.S. Agree to Counter Credit Crisis, Pledge $20 Billion for Trade China and the U.S. pledged $20 billionto fund trade and agreed to deepen financial ties, stepping upefforts to counter the credit crisis in their final economictalks before President-elect Barack Obama takes office. Lawmakers Dodd, Frank Warn Paulson May Not Get Second Half of TARP Money Two top U.S. lawmakers warnedTreasury Secretary Henry Paulson that he may not get the secondhalf of the $700 billion financial rescue fund, joiningRepublicans upset with how the program is being managed. Trichet Under Pressure to Give Deflation Plan as Rates Get Closer to Zero European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet is under pressure to outline a plan to revive theeuro region’s economy should he be “trapped” into pushinginterest rates closer to zero. Pimco Sees Pound Bottom as BOE Cuts Rate to Lowest Level Since Churchill The Bank of England’s third interest-rate cut since the start of October is raising speculation thatthe pound’s 26 percent slide may be coming to an end. Payrolls in U.S. Probably Fell by Most in 26 Years as Recession Deepened U.S. employers probably cut jobs inNovember at the fastest pace in a quarter century as the yearlongrecession engulfing the world’s largest economy deepened,economists said before a report today. Japan May Allow Tax Breaks on Profits Returned From Abroad to Spur Economy Japan may introduce legislation thatwould waive taxes companies pay on profits returned from abroad,in an effort to help the economy emerge from a recession. Sarkozy Morphs from `President Bling-Bling' to Champion of Working Class At 4 a.m. on Sept. 30, as thecollapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was shaking upinvestors on six continents, President Nicolas Sarkozy convenedan emergency meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris to broker thebailout of French-Belgian bank Dexia SA. For an hour, he grilledFinance Minister Christine Lagarde and Bank of France GovernorChristian Noyer on the terms of the 6.4 billion euro rescueplan, says François Perol, Sarkozy’s economic adviser. Bank of Japan Struggles in Attempt to Revive Business Loans: Chart of Day Japanese lenders have shrugged offcentral bank Governor Masaaki Shirakawa’s attempts to reviveloans to businesses, as a year-end funding crunch droveborrowing costs to a record high. Philippine Inflation Eases to Six-Month Low; May Allow Interest-Rate Cut Philippine inflation slowed to a six-month low in November as food and fuel prices eased, giving thecentral bank room to cut interest rates to boost economic growth. Dutch November HICP Below ECB's Inflation Target Again: Table of the Day Following is a summary of the NovemberCPI report from the CBS in Voorburg: German economy could shrink 4 pct in 2009-D. Bank BERLIN, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The German economy, Europe'slargest, could shrink by up to four percent next year, DeutscheBank chief economist Norbert Walter said in comments publishedon Friday.Thanks for reading. This content is originally from EconoIndicators or The Economic Indicators Blogger blog. Click through for more.