Marvin Clark submits: Friday morning the big number, the BLS Employment Situation, landed with a thud. The unemployment rate drifted down to 9.5%, private sector jobs increased by 83,000, the non-farm payroll employment loss was 125,000 and the birth/death rate adjustment figure was 144,000. Government jobs shed 90,000 and 652,000 job seekers left the market. Two-hundred twenty-five thousand temporary census workers were let go. The average workweek fell 0.1% to 34.1 hours and the average earnings also fell 0.1%. Before we pick up our swords and shields in the third quarter to do battle for gains and profits with a rising Euro, a weakening dollar, massive state and local spending cuts, possibly minimum wage wages for California state employees, a chronically ill housing market, fugitive employment and falling consumer confidence, let’s review the barrel we found ourselves spinning in throughout the second quarter. The second quarter was one of the most brutal trading quarters I have seen in 27 years, in investing. Here are a few third-quarter headline stats from the WSJ MarketBeat Blog: for the DJIA - down 1082.61 points, or 9.97% to 9774.02, the worst quarterly performance since 1st Quarter 2009; S&P 500 Index - down 138.72 points, or 11.86% to 1030.71, the worst quarterly performance since 4th Quarter 2008; and Nasdaq - down 288.72 points, or 12.04% to 2109.24, the worst quarterly performance since 4th Quarter 2008. These losses are comparable to those we experienced when we were in the thick of the meltdown. Unlike the express elevator to hell we were trapped in the last half of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, this was a Six Flags rollercoaster ride that took our cash, our lunch, and our sanity. Investors should not hold their heads down in shame. Professionals did not trade this quarter well either. If this quarter had been a boxing match they would have stopped it. This was not an investors’ market and the last week in the quarter told the story. Complete Story »
