Tom Hanna's Lifestream

Stocks look poised to give back some of Friday and Monday's gains with US stock market futures down a bit more than half a percent in overnight trading. The Nikkei average rose 0.8% Tuesday, but the Hang Seng dropped 1.94%, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.75% and European indexes opened down about 1.5%. Oil is down 0.6% with gasoline futures just over 95 cents. The dollar is up against the Canadian dollar, pound and euro, down against the yen. Yesterday's Economic NumbersEmployment Trends Index - November 2008 Monthly Change: Down 1.6% Year-to-year Change: Down 13%What I'm ReadingFed Seeks Fixes Beyond Rate CutsWith the Fed's target interest rate quickly approachingzero, central-bank officials are embracing a broad array of remediesfor the U.S. recession.Companies Scale Back HiringThe outlook for the global labor market is deterioratingmarkedly as companies struggle with the credit crunch and weakerconsumer demand.Japan Government Pledges More to Prevent the Economy From Falling Apart' Japan’s government pledged to takefurther measures to support an economy that reports showed todayis in worse shape than analysts predicted. BernankeWar Powers' Undermine Fed Presidents, Risk Divide on Next Steps The Federal Reserve’s interest-ratetarget is getting close to zero, and so is the power of theFed’s regional bank presidents. German Investor Confidence May Drop to Near Record Low as Economy Stumbles German investor confidence probablydropped to near the lowest level on record in December as thefinancial crisis pushed Europe’s largest economy deeper intorecession, a survey of economists shows. U.K. Housing Sales Drop to Lowest Since at Least 1978 as Recession Deepens U.K. home sales declined to thelowest level since at least 1978 as Britain plunged deeper intoa recession, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said. Spain's `Best Generation' Stung by First Slump in Memory as Jobs Disappear Roberto Frenedoso, a 23-yearconstruction worker, has little to do these days except loiteraround a square with his unemployed friends in Madrid’s Getafesuburb. French Trade Deficit Unexpectedly Widens to a Record on Slumping Exports France’s trade deficit widened to arecord in October as the global economic slowdown hurt exports. German Exports Declined in October as Slowing Global Growth Cools Demand Exports from Germany, Europe’s largesteconomy, fell in October as cooling global growth curbed demand. China's Exports Shrink, Industrial Output Cools, Central Bank Adviser Says China’s exports may have contractedlast month as industrial output cooled, adding pressure forpolicy makers meeting in Beijing this week to do more tosustain economic growth. U.S. First-Quarter 2009 Hiring Plans Held Near 5-Year Low, Manpower Says Hiring plans by U.S. employers forthe first quarter of next year held near a five-year low,signaling a weak labor market will persist into 2009, accordingto a private survey. China Boomtown Withers as U.S. Importers Push Worker Rights Amid Recession Li Wencheng chain smokes in the officeof his candy factory in China’s southern manufacturing belt andfrets over diminishing returns. Japan's Third Quarter GDP Revised Down to 1.8 Percent: Table of the Day Following is a summary of realgross domestic product from the Cabinet Office in Tokyo. German export outlook bleak despite Oct respite BERLIN, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Germany's trade surplus widened inOctober, suggesting net trade may support the economy in thefinal quarter, but the outlook for exports remains bleak withorders for German goods falling sharply in recent months.Japan deeper in recession, third-quarter GDP showsThanks for reading. This content is originally from EconoIndicators or The Economic Indicators Blogger blog. Click through for more.