A grim employment report showed evidence of pressure being felt across various sectors and their exchange traded funds (ETFs).
U.S. private employers cut 79,000 jobs last month, and planned layoffs in the United States were up almost 50% from one year ago, reports Reuters. The job cuts were the largest decline since November 2002. A more comprehensive jobs report is due tomorrow, and few are expecting good news.
And while mortgage applications rose last week because of lower home loan rates, late payments on home equity loans were at 21-year highs.
In better news, factory orders rose an unexpected 0.6%, based on increased demand for aircraft. However, the numbers were still the weakest performance seen in three months.
When will the job hemorrhaging stop? Some economists think these troubles will be stubborn and that a shrinking labor market could last into the fall of 2009, reports Peter S. Goodman for the New York Times.
Real estate and homebuilder ETFs were down today, including:
- DJ Wilshire REIT (RWR), down 4.4% year-to-date
- First Trust S&P REIT (FRI), down 4.5% year-to-date
- iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction (ITB), down 18.5% year-to-date
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