The October employment report came in weaker than expected as the country lost 190,000 jobs, rather than the 175,000 expectation. It was, however, an improvement over the 219,000 lost in September, but worse than the 154,000 jobs lost in August. Both the September and August job losses were revised sharply lower. As of last month it was thought that we lost 263,000 jobs in September and 201,000 in August. So in that context, missing expectations for October by 15,000 does not seem that bad. Of course, it is bad if you happen to be one of those losing your job. Based on the establishment survey we have now lost 7.3 million jobs since the recession started.

In general though, the pace of job losses has been slowing, especially if you step back and look at the big picture. Over the last three months, the economy has been dropping an average of

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[Editor's Note: After more than a year of chaos and controversy, some of the leading U.S. banks saw their stock prices soar during the second quarter. As part of its mid-year forecast series, Money Morning examines the outlook for U.S. banks for the rest of this year. To see earlier stories from our mid-year forecast series, please click here.] By Martin Hutchinson Contributing Editor Money Morning

Can U.S. bank stocks continue their winning streak?

In February, I analyzed the top 12 U.S. banks to determine whether they really needed $1.5 trillion in taxpayer-provided bailout capital. I concluded that only a few of those banks seemed to be in any danger of collapse, and actually recommended several.

Policymakers and the market later came to agree with me: The Standard & Poor’s 500 Financial Index has more than doubled from its March low and several bank stocks have posted triple-digit …

Highlights include Equity Residential (EQR), Mid-America Apartments (MAA) and Apartment Investment & Management Co. (AIV).The best measure of housing prices -- the Case Schiller index -- was released today, and it shows no let up in the pace of housing depreciation. The ten-city composite (C-10), which dates back to the start of 1987, peaked out in April of 2006 on a seasonally adjusted basis at 226.14, and is now down to 152.81. The 20-city composite (C-20) which only goes back to January 2000, peaked in May 2006 at 206.13 and is now down to 141.35. Thus, the C-10 index is 32.4% off its peak while the C-20 is down 31.4%, not a big difference.One reason that the Case Schiller index is of interest is that it is one of the key factors in the bank stress tests (although on the not-seasonally-adjusted basis). Home ...

by Edward Hugh: Barcelonabr /br /br /blockquote"For what it’s worth, a key conclusion from the IMF’s new World Economic Outlook is that recessions caused by financial crisis typically end with export booms, with the trade balance improving,on average, by more than 3 percent of GDP. I find this a disturbing result: we’re now suffering from a global financial crisis, which means that the usual driver of recovery will only be available if we can find another planet to export to."br /a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/japans-recovery-again/"Paul Krugman /abr /br //blockquoteblockquoteWith results still coming in, projections show the United Progressive Alliance is likely to win about 250 seats, making it a shoo-in to form the next government and provide continuity, a stable administration and progress on key economic and corporate reforms.br /a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124247401653426893.html"Wall Street Journal/a, May 16 2009/blockquotebr /blockquotePrime Minister Manmohan Singh’s electoral victory, the biggest any Indian politician has scored in two decades, may ...

One business day removed from the government’s bank stress tests, four of the largest U.S. banks - BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT), Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) and KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) - announced plans to raise capital through stock offerings.

BB&T said it plans to raise $1.5 billion by selling common stock, combine it with “other funds,” and repay all the capital from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

The Winston-Salem, N.C. bank also said it will cut its divided 68% to 15 cents a share, an action that will save $725 million in capital a year. Chief Executive Officer Kelly King said the dividend reduction is temporary, and making the decision was marked “the worst day in my 37 year career.”

“However, we firmly believe this action is in the

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Monday May 11, 2000 Navivest On Friday, just one day after the official release of the government’s bank stress tests, Morgan Stanley (MS) and Wells Fargo (WFC) announced that they had raised a... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The base metals were mixed on Thursday. Copper flirted with the $2.20 mark in the late pre-dawn hours, but then fell off through the day, finishing at its intraday low of $2.1135/lb., down nearly 6 cents.

Nickel pushed above $6 in the pre-dawn hours and then again at mid-morning, before backing off a bit to close at $5.8423/lb., up more than 9 cents. Zinc peaked at 73 cents but then hit the skids, ending at $0.695/lb., down a penny and a half. Aluminum was modestly lower, shedding just over a third of a cent, to $0.6889/lb., while lead moved slightly higher, adding three-quarters of a cent, to $0.6532/lb.

Copper headlined a day of mixed results by pulling back from a three-week high of $2.217, as traders decided that was a lofty enough level to take some profits ahead of the release of the bank stress tests and today’s jobless numbers

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As to be expected, discussions about the stress tests on the health of the 19 biggest US banks dominated the video airwaves during the past few days, with arguments ranging from whether the tests were necessary to whether they were stressful enough.

For the rest, Warren Buffett held his annual Berkshire shareholders’ jamboree - this year sharing both concern and optimism about the future. And as the nascent stock market rally is looking more tired by the day, the debate intensified on whether this was a “real rally”.

In addition to Buffett and the usual suspects of Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke, commentators featured on camera in this post include Richard Bernstein, Bill Fleckenstein, Nouriel Roubini, Neel Kashkari, Alan Blinder, Russell Napier, Robin Griffiths and Meb Faber.

The selection kicks off with an item in lighter vein - a song entitled

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In the energy market on Tuesday, crude for June delivery fell for the first session in five, closing at $53.84/barrel, down 63 cents. June reformulated gasoline dropped 1.38 cents, to $1.5722/gallon.

Analysts cited concerns that the Energy Information Administration’s inventory report, due today, will show stocks that have risen past their 19-year high, set last week. Analysts surveyed by Platts expect a buildup of 2.2 million barrels.

“While economic indicators are continuing to look less bad, oil fundamentals are still looking far from rosy,” wrote Nimit Khamar, of Sucden Financial Research. “The fact remains there is still a large amount of crude inventories around and oil demand is continuing to fall.”

Zachary Oxman, managing director at TrendMax Futures, offered a concurring opinion, saying that, “In the near term, we are very overbought in both oil and stocks and I’d expect a descent pull-back this month as the big money steps aside

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Gold pushed slightly higher in Hong Kong on Monday, but there was little further action until early in the second hour of New York trading, when the metal suddenly went vertical, busting through the $900 barrier, adding $15 in less than a half-hour and topping out at $907, but that was it for the day, as it eased through the rest of the Comex and the Globex, to finish at $903.20/oz., up $17.40. Overnight, gold is slightly lower.

Platinum got the same morning ignition, but it rode the updraught all the way through the day, barely coming off its intraday highs late in the Globex to end at $1118, up $29. Overnight, platinum is trending higher.

Silver blasted off at the same time, as well, and it continued to push higher through the Comex, peaking at $13.14 before falling off modestly on the Globex and closing at $13.03/oz., up 53

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