August jobs report to get sharp focus Friday as election nears

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By Michael A. Fletcher, Updated: Thursday, September 6, 5:29 PM


The number of people applying for jobless benefits fell last week, and an independent firm estimated that private employers added 201,000 jobs in August, raising hopes that the rocky job market is improving ahead of the government’s monthly unemployment report on Friday.

Economists polled by Bloomberg estimate that employers added 125,000 jobs in August and that the nation’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.3 percent.


Friday’s Labor Department report is more eagerly anticipated than most. It is one of only three jobs reports remaining before the Nov. 6 presidential election. And it will come just hours after President Obama claims his party’s nomination at the Democratic National Convention, capping a meeting where Democrats have argued before the nation that the economy , while struggling, is on the right track.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has accused Obama of mishandling the economy, and the report’s headline numbers may go a long way toward shaping voters’ views about who is right.

The report also comes just days before next week’s meeting of Federal Reserve policy makers. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last week that economic growth is far from satisfactory and vowed that unless things improve, the Fed would be “forceful” in taking action to stimulate more robust growth. A weak jobs number could provoke the Fed to further push down already low interest rates to pump up the economy.

In July, employers added 163,000 jobs, a welcome change from three consecutive months in which the nation added an average of just 73,000 jobs. That figure is far lower than what is needed to keep up with normal workforce growth and to lower the nation’s unemployment rate. Overall this year, the economy has added an average of 151,000 jobs a month.

A recent flurry of economic indicators point to a gradual improvement in the job market, many economists say.

An employment report from payroll services firm ADP showed an increase of 201,000 private-sector payroll jobs in August. Thursday’s report from ADP was the strongest in five months.

The Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing employment index increased in August, even though the group’s manufacturing index declined for the third consecutive month.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/august-jobs-report-to-get-sharp-focus-friday-as-election-nears/2012/09/06/a80f3458-f7a9-11e1-8398-0327ab83ab91_story.html

163k new jobs last month for low wages and no benefits. I got an offer to sell cutlery and another for multilevel marketing. Neither of which I would consider in this lifetime. A pyramid scheme and cold selling knives made in China no doubt. Hell you could hear in the background that it was a loud call center trying to recruit rubes to sell knives for them and working on commission. No benefits at all. QB

JPMorgan Said to Face Escalating Senate Probe of CIO Loss

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s (JPM) wrong-way bets on derivatives are the focus of an escalating investigation by a U.S. Senate panel led by Carl Levin that has grilled executives from banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc, three people briefed on the inquiry said.
7:41Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Richard Bove, an analyst at Rochdale Securities, talks about the London interbank offered rate, Libor, scandal. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. are among seven banks subpoenaed in New York and Connecticut's investigation into alleged manipulation of Libor, according to a person familiar with the matter and company filings. Bove speaks with Stephanie Ruhle and Scarlet Fu on Bloomberg Television's "Market Makers. (Source: Bloomberg)Enlarge imageSenator Carl Levin’s panel probed Wall Street for two years following the 2008 financial crisis. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergLevin’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is seeking testimony from those who worked in or helped lead JPMorgan’s chief investment office, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the inquiry isn’t public. The unit’s London staff lost at least $5.8 billion this year on the botched wagers, which were large enough to shift markets.Tara Andringa, a spokeswoman for Levin, didn’t respond to a message seeking comment, and Joe Evangelisti at JPMorgan declined to discuss the panel’s inquiry. “As always, the company has fully cooperated with all regulatory and governmental requests around this matter,” Evangelisti said.The bank, led by Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, 56, faces a panel of lawmakers that in recent years brought executives from Goldman Sachs and London-based HSBC toCapitol Hill, barraging them with questions that challenged their version of events. JPMorgan said in July that its internal review found traders may have tried to obscure the full amount of losses they faced on their transactions.The market value of JPMorgan, the nation’s largest bank by assets, has dropped more than $22 billion since Bloomberg News first reported on April 5 that the firm amassed a large and illiquid position in credit derivatives in the London office. The bank lost $5.8 billion on the trades during the first six months of this year and has said it could lose as much as $7.5 billion total while closing out the position.

Delany Appointed

Dimon, who dismissed initial press reports as a “tempest in a teapot,” retracted those words less than a month later when the firm reported a $2 billion loss on the position on May 10. Chief Investment Officer Ina Drew, 56, who ran the unit, resigned on May 14 and later offered to return a portion of her past compensation to the company.Dimon has since overhauled the division, initially replacing Drew with his former co-head of fixed-income trading, Matthew Zames, along with several other executives. Yesterday, the bank said it appointed Craig Delany as the new chief investment officer reporting to Zames, who is now co-chief operating officer, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg News. Delany will manage the firm’s mortgage-servicing rights as part of his “broad role,” according to the memo.The three London traders and managers whom the bank deemed directly responsible for the trades are no longer with the firm, which has said it will seek to claw back their pay.

Political Restraints

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-06/jpmorgan-said-to-face-escalating-senate-probe-into-cio-s-losses.html

Where is the RICO act when you need one? It appears evident that these people are above the law or the law has no balls to go after them. The whole damn bankster group of GS, JPM, Morgan Stanley and the rest should be in JAIL. Do not pass go do not collect 200 billion dollars. QB