U.S. Indexes Struggle, Jobless Rate Falls to 9%

Bikram Pandey
04 Feb, 2011
New York City

U.S. stocks traded sideways after unemployment rate declined to 9% in January from 9.4% in December. The increase was smaller than expected. Long term unemployment was 13.9 million and revised 909,000 jobs were created in 2010. Las Vegas swings to quarterly net profit.

[R]9:40 AM New York – U.S. stocks traded sideways after unemployment rate declined to 9% in January from 9.4% in December. The increase was smaller than expected. Long term employment was 13.9 million and revised 909,000 jobs were created in 2010. Las Vegas swings to quarterly net profit.[/R]

U.S. stocks traded sideways after jobless rate declined to 9% in January from 9.4% in December. The reaction in the stock trading was muted as investors were not sure that the decline in employment rate was driven by an increase in employment or that long term employed have stopped looking for work.

Department of Labor said employment rose 36,000 after increasing revised 121,000 in December. Long term unemployment was 13.9 million to 9%.

Private sector hiring increased 50,000 and factories added 49,000. Retail trade added 28,000 jobs after changing little in December. Services provider added 18,000 and construction industry eliminated 32,000. Healthcare added 11,000 and in the last one year the industry added 22,000 a month.

Government payrolls declined 14,000 of which 2,000 jobs were eliminated by the federal government and agencies and 12,000 were cut by the state and local governments.

Bad weather also played a role in the month. According to the government survey bad weather held back 707,000 Americans from going to work. Average 282,000 people could not go to work in the last five Januarys.

The survey also showed that the U.S. added 909,000 in 2010 and employment in November the increase was revised to 93,000 from 71,000 and in December was increased to 121,000 from 103,000.

Earnings Review

Las Vegas Sands Corp. ((LVS)), the resort, hotel and casino operator reported fourth quarter net revenue increased 56.9% to $2.02 billion from $1.28 billion a prior year. Net income in the quarter increased to $273.0 million or 34 cents per diluted share compared to net loss $113.9 million or 17 cents per share a year ago.

Merck & Co., Inc. ((MRK)), the global health care company reported fourth quarter net revenue increased 20% to $12.09 billion from $10.09 billion a prior year. Net loss in the quarter was $531.0 million or $0.17 per diluted share compared to net income $6,494 million or $2.35 per share a year ago.

AB Volvo, the supplier of commercial transport solutions provider said fourth quarter net sales increased 23% to SEK73.4 billion from SEK59.8 billion a prior year. Net income in the quarter was SEK3.4 million or SEK1.59 per diluted share compared to net loss SEK1.99 million or SEK0.99 per share a year ago.

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the France-based luxury goods company reported revenue increased to 20.32 billion euros from 17.05 billion euros a prior year. Net profit in the quarter was 3.32 billion euros or 6.32 euros a diluted share compared to 1.97 billion euros or 3.70 euros per share a year ago.