With the market not sure what bad news would send it soaring higher today, here comes the Philly Fed to save the day by tumbling from October's 19.8 to a paltry 6.5, slamming through expectations of 15.0 - the biggest miss since February - and assuring that ahead of today's POMO there is enough ammunition for a stock ramp to end the three days of declines.
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But while the leading indicators of New Orders, Shipments and Unfilled Orders all plunged (from 27.5 to 11.9; from 20.4 to 5.6 and from 9.1 to -4.2, respectively), it was the jobs number that showed just how bad things really are with the Number of Employees and Average Employee Workweek both sliding from 15.4 to 1.1, and from 8.5 to -8.6.
This is what the report said: "Labor market indicators showed little improvement this month. The current employment index fell 14 points from its reading in October (which was at a two?year high), to 1.1. Nearly 13 percent of the firms reported increases in employment, which is lower than the 23 percent that reported increased employment last month. Firms, on balance, reported lower work hours, with the average workweek index falling from 8.5 to -8.6 this month."
Thank you Obamacare for making even more workers into part-timers.
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And broken down by components:
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And now, since the economy is once again sliding on every possible banana peel, we can calmly go back to the "market" ramp.