Friday, December 04, 2009

Exsqueeeezed Retailer And Will It Last?

No doubt, the event of the day was monthly release of US NFP (non-farm payrolls). Wow, recovery, game-changer ... on the Wall Street. Academia sounds less inspired, though, for whatever reason.

There were couple of issues that are raising my eyebrows, however. Non-manufacturing ISM, Conference Board, ADP, etc. indicated a different picture. Let it be ... Calculated Risk draws my attention to retail:
Retailers are hiring seasonal workers at slightly above the pace of last year ...
And BLS commented the details this way:
Within retail trade, department stores added 8,000 jobs over the month.
Of course, 8,000 jobs is not that much ... but they were stocking stuff and staff, but sales, as I noted yesterday, so far lagging the expectations. Risk of exsqueeezed profits? We will see it later, and retailers should pray for better December mood ...

Chunk of positives comes from:
Employment in professional and business services rose by 86,000 in November. Temporary help services accounted for the majority of the increase, adding 52,000 jobs. Since July, temporary help services employment has risen by 117,000.
Temporary help ... I really do not know why, but my thinking is zooming in and around housing? There are, of course, a lot of "bargain hunting" around where professional and business services are necessary ...

Oooops, and here is the skeptic's take!

ECRI's US WLI edges higher, from quant perspective ... so, as Goldman Sachs noted this week, it is time to turn from "Hope" to "Growth". However, the guys at ECRI ask this morning: "... But Will It Last?" Why such questions?

We have quite serious action today in:
US 10 Year Treasury Note Yield
US Dollar Index
Gold

Dow Jones Transportation Average leads with break-out to the upside, while S&P500 struggles ... Next week may be key for direction?

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