US Unemployment Soars to 5%: Weak Sales Numbers

CNN Reports:

Employers added far fewer jobs in the month than had been forecast, while the unemployment rate shot up to 5 percent, which was a two-year high, according to a government report Friday. Stocks sold off sharply on rising fears of a possible recession ahead.

“December’s bleak jobs report represents the siren call that this business cycle is just about over,” said Bernard Baumohl, the managing director of the Economic Outlook Group, an economic research firm in Princeton, NJ. “We’re about to tilt over to the other side of the economic curve and begin the downswing.”

The US economy again is demonstrating how dependent it is on consumer spending for its health. Now that the DOW is under 13,000,we are quickly approaching bear market territory. The Fed also announced that it will pump over $60 billion of liquidity into the credit markets thus spurring the sentiment that this is much deeper than they are leading on. It is without a doubt that employment numbers are finally reflecting what many people have been feeling in their pockets. High energy costs, rising healthcare needs on an aging population, and a growing amount of debt will make buy and hold sectors under performers for the next few years. People need to move away from financial and real estate sectors while focusing on energy and health care as potential markets for investing. With our manufacturing base being gutted, the investment advice of the past 50 years will no longer hold true in a service oriented environment.

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