Weekly Jobless Claims Rise More Than Expected

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The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment aid rose last week, putting them back at the lower end of their pre-storm range and suggesting job growth remains moderate.Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 17,000 to a seasonally adjusted 361,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised to show 1,000 more applications than previously reported.
Claims have now unwound the Superstorm Sandy surge. They rose as high as 451,000 in the aftermath of the late October storm, which struck the East Coast. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 357,000 last week.
The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of labor market trends, fell 13,750 to 367,750, the lowest since late October. The data covered the survey period for December nonfarm payrolls.
Job gains so far this year have averaged 151,000 per month, a pattern that is likely to hold through December amid fears the U.S. Congress and the Obama administration could fail to agree on a deal to prevent tighter fiscal policy next year.
About $600 billion in government spending cuts and higher taxes could be pulled out of the economy in early 2013, and tip it back into recession unless an agreement is reached on a less punitive plan to reduce budget deficits.
A Labor Department official said there were no special factors influencing week's claims data.The claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid rose 12,000 to 3.23 million in the week ended Dec. 8.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/2012/12/20/jobless-claims-november/#ixzz2FeT7W0Yt

The Magic Number for Obama and Boehner: $550,000

By Margaret Carlson Dec 20, 2012 3:07 PM ET
I try not to write anything with too many numbers in it, but I am making an exception for Cliffmas. Here is my prediction: The final cutoff for increased taxes will be $550,000, give or take $25,000.I derive this number not necessarily from reading op-eds, proposals and white papers offered by the likes of Warren Buffett, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and the Tax Policy Center. More to the point, I have been listening to the musings of legislators and reporters, sober and not so sober, at holiday cocktail parties.President Barack Obama has offered to raise taxes only on those earning more than $400,000, up from his initial offer of $250,000. House Speaker John Boehner needs today's vote to happen to so he can get to a number below his caucus's drop-dead number of $1 million. For that it helps to have a daylong stalemate and a vote -- it keeps his members occupied while negotiations (which they are shut out of) proceed quietly. They get to flaunt their majority by passing a bill, even one sure to be vetoed. Even Democrats play into the script by crying what a waste of time the vote is.A waste of time? That's just another day at the office for Boehner. A speaker has to have what a speaker has to have, if he's to be re-elected by his fractious caucus in the new Congress.Once Boehner has given them their roll call and his members have something with their name on it to take home to their districts, the House will be a sad place, reminded again how little power it actually has in this skirmish with Obama. Members will also be reminded by another day of poll numbers that they will be blamed more than Democrats if we go over the fiscal cliff.Now if I were king, I would stick with $250,000 as the cutoff above which taxpayers pay more. The poor have suffered enough in this recession, and the rich have come out of it sooner and richer than anyone else. Obama's concession is already a reminder of how much he doesn't like to go even near the edge of any cliff. It may be good statesmanship, but it's bad drama. He still has the stronger hand: Let the Bush tax cuts expire, come back with a middle-class tax cut and dare Republicans to vote against it.So today's Plan B vote is a blip on the way to Plan C. After today, Boehner will be freer to negotiate with Obama, but he will still give more than he gets. If you average the Republicans' number and Obama's -- $1 million and $400,000 -- you get $700,000. So with a final number of $550,000, Boehner comes out $150,000 behind.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-20/the-magic-number-for-obama-and-boehner-550-000.html

Let Justice Be Done, Though a Huge Bank Falls

By Jonathan Weil Dec 20, 2012 6:46 PM ET
The U.S. Justice Department is getting the kind of glowing publicity it craves out of its $1.5 billion criminal settlement with the Swiss bank UBS AG. (UBSN) "Leniency Denied, UBS Unit Admits Guilt in Rate Case," the New York Times said in a headline.The reality is UBS's punishment was anything but strict.

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Jonathan Weil joined Bloomberg News as a columnist in 2007, and his columns on finance and accounting won Best ...MOREFOLLOW ON TWITTER

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In February 2009, UBS -- the parent company, not a mere subsidiary -- entered into a deferred-prosecution agreement with the Justice Department in which the company admitted to helping U.S. taxpayers hide overseas bank accounts from the Internal Revenue Service.UBS promised to "comply with United States federal criminal laws" as part of that agreement. The government, in exchange, promised to dismiss all charges against UBS after 18 months, as long as UBS fulfilled its obligations under the deal. In October 2010, the complaint against UBS was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it couldn't be refiled later.Now consider this: UBS was committing federal crimes during the 18-month period when that deferred-prosecution agreement was in effect, according to documents released by the Justice Department this week. Two former UBS traders were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a criminal complaint unsealed this week. The government accused the pair of boosting profits by manipulating interest ratesin a scheme that ran from September 2006 through June 2010.UBS's Japanese affiliate was required to plead guilty to wire fraud as part of the deal with the government. That's not anywhere near as damaging as a criminal charge against the UBS parent company, which entered into a nonprosecution agreement with the Justice Department. That agreement, too, said the scheme continued well into 2009 and 2010.It's unclear when the government became aware of UBS's Libor manipulations. UBS first disclosed in March 2011 that it had received subpoenas from U.S. authorities investigating Libor-rigging; the disclosure was contained in UBS's 2010 annual report and didn't say when the company had received the subpoenas.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-20/let-justice-be-done-though-a-huge-bank-falls.html