Women Waiting Tables Provide Most of Female Gains in Employment

Unemployment data appear to reflect big advances for women. The jobless rate in August for females 20 years and older was 6.3 percent, the lowest since December 2008, compared with 7.1 percent for men. As recently as January, the rate was 7.3 percent for both genders, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The downside is that the gains have been largely in lower-paying industries such as waitresses, in-home health care, food preparation and housekeeping. About 60 percent of the increase in employment for women from 2009 to 2012 was in jobs that pay less than $10.10 an hour, compared with 20 percent for men, according to a study by the National Women’s Law Center using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The numbers expose a soft spot in an economic recovery that has reduced the overall unemployment rate to 7.3 percent from 10 percent in October 2009. Quality of jobs is an increasing concern for U.S. policy makers and economists since it affects the level of incomes and wage disparities. Read more >>

Employers announced 50,462 layoffs last month

The number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms surged in August to their highest in half a year, with industrial goods manufacturers the hardest hit, a report on Thursday showed.

Employers announced 50,462 layoffs last month, up 33.8 percent from 37,701 in July, according to the report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

The August job cuts were up 57 percent from the same time a year ago. For 2013 so far, employers have announced 347,095 job losses, close to the 352,185 that were seen in the first eight months of last year.

Industrial goods manufacturers saw the biggest layoffs, cutting 22,162 employees, the largest total for the sector since January 2009.

"Heavy job cuts in the industrial goods sector are never a good thing, as they can be indicative of widening cracks in the economy's foundation," said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

"However, the August surge in industrial goods job cuts was driven largely by falling global demand for mining equipment," he said. Read more >>

Average price of new car hits record

The average transaction price for a new vehicle set a record of $31,252 in August, according to TrueCar.com, up 3.2% from a year ago.

The new high is up 0.5%, or $164, from July, the auto data research and shopping site reports.

The record was powered by five car companies that each had record prices in the month: Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Nissan and Volkswagen.

TrueCar's transaction price is meant to include everything – price of the vehicle, discounts, add-ons, taxes and license fees – all the amounts that total to the out-the-door price. Read more >>

All the pieces are in place for a major uptrend in gold

All the pieces are in place for a major uptrend in gold to begin right away, and it appears to be starting as this is being prepared. The Commercials have cleared out virtually all of their short positions, for a massive profit of course, meaning that the slate is wiped clean for the game to start over anew. Public opinion and sentiment towards gold remains rotten, which is exactly what you expect to see at a major low, with the investing public at large, having been duly “educated” by the mainstream media, harboring a negative attitude to gold and if anything inclined to short it. Lastly, seasonal factors couldn’t be better – August and September are traditionally the best months of the year for gold.

On its 1-year chart we can see that gold had already broken out of its steep downtrend in mid-July, since which time it has been held in check by its falling 50-day moving average, which is now starting to flatten out, so that a bull Flag appears to have formed as the price retreated back along the top of the trendline that it had earlier broken above.

This Flag implies another upleg, which appears to have started this morning, and this uptrend could really gain traction soon if the price breaks above the nearby resistance shown, given the huge speculative short positions that have built up and the consequent potential for massive short covering. The gap between the 50 and 200-day moving averages provides a measure of how oversold gold is. Of course, breaking above the strong resistance at the earlier major support in the $1550 area that failed back in the Spring will be a tough nut to crack, but we will have to see how gold shapes up approaching it, in order to assess the chances of an early breakout above this key level. Read more >>

Gas prices expected to surge again

Rising crude oil prices and a fall in U.S. supplies are driving wholesale gas prices up sharply. That has yet to be fully reflected at the retail level.

Prices at the pump — up 4 cents the past week to a national average of $3.52 a gallon — could climb another 15 cents or higher over the next two weeks. A year ago, the national average was $3.38.

"It's getting ugly,'' says Patrick DeHaan, senior analyst for GasBuddy.com. "First and foremost, the political problems in Egypt are driving crude oil prices, but there has also been a sharp drop in oil supplies the past two weeks. This is coming at a time when demand is at its annual July peak."

Egypt is not a major oil supplier, but ongoing political woes threaten Middle Eastern shipments and were the catalyst behind crude oil prices rising to 15-month highs earlier this week. Benchmark West Texas crude oil eased 1.5% to $104.91 a barrel Thursday. Wholesale gas prices — up 30 cents to 50 cents a gallon on some markets since late June — rose 0.8% to $3.04 a gallon for mid-August delivery. Typically, pump prices are about 75 cents higher. Read more >>

Gold prices slide to 34-month low

Gold prices are on track to lose nearly 25% this quarter after sliding to a 34-month low Wednesday. The August contract for gold fell more than 4% to $1,227.10 an ounce early Wednesday, taking the price down to the lowest level since August 2010. Prices had been nearly $1,600 at the start of the quarter and had topped $1,900 for the first time last August.

If the sell-off continues, the second quarter will go down as one of the worst in decades.
Fears that the Federal Reserve will pull back on stimulus has been particularly bad for gold, which had been driven higher by worries that the Fed's stimulus efforts would weaken the dollar and cause inflation.

"It has been a turbulent past few weeks for the yellow metal and there seems little to suggest any let-up in the months ahead," said Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist with ETX Capital, in a note to clients. "We could see gold prices test the $1,000 mark in the run-up to Fed tapering of stimulus." Read more >>

Durable goods drop worst since recession

New orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods in August fell by the most in 3-1/2 years, pointing to a sharp slowdown in factory activity even as a gauge of planned business spending rebounded.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday durable goods orders dived 13.2 percent, the largest drop since January 2009, when the economy was in the throes of a recession. Orders for July were revised down to show a 3.3 percent increase instead of the previously reported 4.1 percent gain.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected orders for durable goods -- items from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last at least three years -- to fall 5 percent. Last month, the drop in orders reflected weak aircraft and automobiles demand. Boeing received only one aircraft order in August, down from 260 in July, according to information posted on the plane maker's website. Read more >>

MI jobless rate raises to 9.4 percent

Michigan authorities say the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose 0.4 percentage points in the latest month to 9.4 percent.

The Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget released the August jobless figures Wednesday. The nation's August unemployment rate was 8.1 percent, down from 8.3 percent in July.

The state's jobless has fallen 1 percentage point over 12 months from an August 2011 level of 10.4 percent. But it has risen for four straight months from April's 8.3 percent. Read more >>

End of summer gas spike hits drivers

The average price of a gallon of regular gas increased 1.5 cents nationally to $3.84 in AAA's latest reading Tuesday, the first significant move in gas prices since late August. The August run-up in prices was caused by Gulf Coast refinery disruptions as Hurricane Isaac approached.

Prices were expected to retreat quickly once the Gulf region's facilities came back online. But Tom Kloza, chief analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, said the retreat in prices following the storm is being delayed because Isaac hit so close to Sept. 15. That date is important because it is when the

United States switches from a more expensive summer blend of gasoline to a cheaper winter blend. As that date approaches, refineries don't want to be caught with too much of the more expensive gasoline. So in the week before the changeover, they cut back on their summer blend production, tightening the supply. Read more >>

Euro Manufacturing Output Contracts - Europe Heads Toward Recession

Euro-area manufacturing contracted more than initially estimated in August, suggesting the economy may struggle to avoid a recession in the third quarter.

A gauge of manufacturing in the 17-nation euro area based on a survey of purchasing managers was revised lower to 45.1 from the reading of 45.3 estimated earlier, London-based Markit Economics said today. The index, which stood at 44 in July, has held for 13 months below 50, indicating contraction. European manufacturers are feeling the impact of the sovereign-debt crisis and tougher austerity measures that have undermined export and consumer demand. Euro-area economic confidence fell to a three-year low and inflation accelerated to 2.6 percent in August. The jobless rate held at a record 11.3 percent in July.

“The euro-zone manufacturing sector remains firmly in contraction territory,” Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit, said in the report. “The rate of decline was a little slower than in July, providing some heart that the manufacturing downturn may be easing, but the sector is on course to act as a drag on gross domestic product in the third quarter.” Read more >>