CalculatedRisk ADP reports: Nonfarm private employment decreased 169,000 from October to November 2009 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the ADP National Employment Report®. The estimated change of employment from September to October was revised by 8,000, from a decline of 203,000 to a decline of 195,000. Note: ADP is private nonfarm employment only (no government jobs). The BLS re Read More...

Courtney Comstock of Clusterstock Will the transaction tax pass? “It depends on how socialist the government wants to be,” a trader from one of the big banks told The Business Insider. He was one of three traders debating the issue over drinks at happy hour last night. They all say even though the .25% transaction tax on trades that was proposed to Congress recently seems like a small Read More...

Scott Redler of T3Live.com It’s been a long road for me and Gold, dating back to last December 17th. However, I am now selling my last tier of gold on the open as it has met my price objective. Gold can continue to move higher, but it will do so without me. Every trader has a learning experience (sometimes everyday) and this was a major one for me–it was the longest hold of my life. Read More...

Vincent Fernando of Money Game It’s been a horrible decade for the Dow Jones, the worst since the 1930′s. Moreover, according to the chart below from Bespoke Investment Group. decade-timing seems to be pretty important, as most of the Dow’s returns have been concentrated, particularly during 1980 – 2000. Read More...

Zero Hedge All those charts of one thing in terms of another…all of them so, so stupid…unless of course you happen to live in North Korea today and just found yourself 100x poorer and scrambling to exchange whatever is in your wallet for dollars, ovens, bananas, penguins, horses, toothpicks, hookers, Kindles (never mind if you can’t read: that will just make you a targeted Amazon Read More...

AC Investor ( click to enlarge ) AIG shares spiked today on news that the company had closed a pact with the New York Federal Reserve that slashes its debt under a credit facility by more than half, to $17 billion. The stock closed at 30.84, up 2.44 (+8.59%) on volume of 42.16 Million. From a technical standpoint, KD indicator has generated a buy signal as K line has crossed on top over D line. Al Read More...

Brandon Rowley of Trading Wall Street Investments Midway through last week, the euro hit a new high for the year against the dollar at $1.51439. The momentum trade looked promising but a surprise was in store. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Dubai announced its need to delay repayments and restructure its debt. A significant flight to safety ensued with the dollar and Treasuries rallying while nea Read More...

MISH Commodities are soaring today, especially gold and silver, in the wake of news that the BOJ will Provide 10 Trillion Yen in Emergency Credit. The Bank of Japan said it’s ready to pump more money into the financial system after unveiling a 10 trillion yen ($115 billion) program to help an economy battered by falling prices and the yen’s surge to a 14-year high. “If there is a shortage o Read More...

When investors and traders first discover the Wave Principle, there are several reactions: Disbelief – that markets are patterned and largely predictable by technical analysis alone. Joyous “irrational exuberance” – at having found a “crystal ball” to foretell the future. And finally the correct, and useful response – “Wow, here is a valuable new tool I should learn to use.� Read More...

Evan Lazarus of T3Live.com We are keeping a close eye on the potential (although far from confirmed) formation of a rare triple top pattern in the SPY. A triple top pattern is a reversal pattern that is composed of three failed attempts to make new highs in the same area, followed by a subsequent downside break of support. This pattern, although rare, is a very reliable sell signal. Here is some Read More...

Fritz Henderson, the CEO of GM, and the man who replaced Rick Wagoner, is stepping down. CNBC’s Phil Lebeau just broke the news. The announcement will be made official at a press conference in 10 minutes. No word yet on who will replace him. In the past, GM (like many other bailed-out companies under constant supervision) has complained that regulations and pay caps have prevented it from h Read More...

Joe Weisenthal of clusterstock Once again, The White House is using its blog to attack a media organization — and in a snarky way. First it went after car site Edmunds.com. Now it’s going after The Wall Street Journal. Here’s the full post written by Jared Bernstein, which slams the paper’s reporting on the stimulus. The title: “Wall Street Journal Debunks Wall Stre Read More...

One free tool that I utilize to help me keep on top of my portfolio is called Trend Analysis, from the team that runs MarketClub. Trend Analysis is a daily email analysis tool that gives me insight into exactly what my portfolio is doing. Today AUY, GE & F all have maxed out at a +100 score. Just type in the ticker and an e-mail will arrive with details on the stock and detail the trend for yo Read More...

This guest post originally appeared at TheAtlantic.com… Paul Krugman and I seem to agree that the worst part of a recession is unemployment.  Losing value in your 401(k) is terrible, but not, for most people, catastrophic.  Losing your business or your job, on the other hand, is wretched, particularly when there are six job hunters for every job opening. Where we differ is that Krugman do Read More...

Shares of Origin Agritech Inc. soared to their highest point in more than two years Monday, their fourth big jump over the past five trading days on extremely heavy volume. On Nov. 21, Origin said the Chinese government issued a final approval for its genetically modified corn seeds. The China-based hybrid seed developer said then it received a Bio-safety Certificate from the Chinese Ministry of A Read More...