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No video today as I conserve my voice after “engaging” the umpires in one of the worst calls in Major League Baseball history Friday Night in
Debate is indeed an initial game changer - post debate data shows new race:
Bottom Line: Late last week after Wednesday nights’ historic debate win for Mitt Romney (see last Thursday’s Cheat Sheet for the explanation of “historic performance”), the initial signs of a nice bounce for Romney were present. The data we received Friday thru Sunday confirmed this.
In every poll taken since last Wednesday Romney has faired better. This includes sizeable leads in
It’s also important to note that many states, including
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/
Trying to make sense of Friday's jobs numbers:
Bottom Line: Hmm… What to do with this report. Something I’ll always do is admitting when I’m wrong. Credibility is the most valuable trait any of us operate with – especially with what I do for a living. When I expected a slight uptick in unemployment after Friday’s labor report and instead we were presented with a decline of .3% I was more than a little surprised.
The monthly jobs number was 114,000 for September which was slightly better than I was expecting, but that was something I mentioned could happen because in my data I hadn’t accounted for any p\t hires that may have been added late in the month for seasonal work. That certainly appears to have been a factor along with another take away – the initial benefit of the early stage rebound in housing.
For the last three years state and local Governments have been cutting staff as revenue continued to drop related to decreasing home values and thus property tax collections. With prices having stabilized last year and increasing in some that trend has slightly reversed. Over the past two months Government payrolls have actually grown by 55,000. So those are the two explainable pieces – what isn’t what I’ll tackle next.
There are two different types of data available to the
This economy has switched to a record p\t swing and full-time work isn’t realistic for many (with p\t work and a big decline in the standard of living – the new norm) or there will be massive revisions next month that will result in unemployment yet again topping 8% and undoing the huge a statistical blimp from the September household number. I’ll go with the latter for now (although if we continue with this President his policies many just lead us into the first explanation).
Personality traits employers are looking for:
Bottom Line: If you’re looking for work within a traditional business environment (or move up within it) here are the traits companies are looking for right now…
- Intellectual Curiosity
- Self-monitoring
- Confidence
- High energy
- Professionalism
I actually listed those in reverse order from the finding in the Forbes story (link below) but find the best way for you to stand out within those two. Many people can be completely professional, with a good energy level and even project confidence. What makes you unique? Well if you can manage yourself well, your busy boss will certainly appreciate and come to rely on that ability. It’s intellectual curiosity that presents the best opportunity for you to stand out. If you provide better ideas that if well thought out and properly presented – your role as a thinker in addition to a doer should go a long way in many corporate environments.
Before it's announced - Amex to expand its user base - Wal-Mart to expand credit:
Bottom Line: By the time you read this, it’s likely that the news will be out – so I don’t have all of the answers at this point but here’s what’s likely to occur. American Express and Wal-Mart will likely partner on a new credit card aimed at traditional Wal-Mart customer. It’s safe to say that the traditional Amex customer and the traditional Wal-Mart customer are of slightly different societal economic backgrounds. That reality appears to be ready to change.
Wal-Mart is looking to provide it’s customers with more payment flexibility (we traditionally know that customers who use credit cards spend up to 30% more) while American Express is looking for opportunity to expand its user base, what I’ll be most interested in seeing is the pricing for Wal-Mart.
American Express and Discover Card have long been the most expensive for merchants to accept (charging the highest fees) which is why many small businesses don’t accept them. If Amex is willing to slim down its merchant fees, it could be an opportunity for smaller companies as well.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/07/idUSL1E8L73NR20121007?type=marketsNews
