NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
What did you expect? The unemployment rate jumps from 6.1 percent to 6.4 percent and we lose 30K jobs in June, at the high end of the estimates, and you think stocks will go up? No. No, they won't and no, they didn't.
The June employment report dominated a holiday-shortened session on Thursday, as traders, brokers, and cigar-factory workers headed out for the holiday weekend. You and me both, sista! The Dow dropped 72 points to 9,070, while the Nasdaq fell 15 to 1,663.
Hey watch me, Alice B. Toklas ("I Love You Alice B. Toklas," a wonderful Peter Sellers vehicle. I think it was the brownies...), I mean Andy Serwer on CNN's "American Morning" (soon to be with Soledad O'Brien!), "In the Money," and Headline News. Read Loose Change to find out about the best Google gimmick ever! Here's what is going on:
JOB RANT AND PRESIDENT BUSH The unemployment rate is now at 6.4 percent, the highest since April 1994 -- not good for you and me and the ships at sea, and not good for Prez B either. As of today, W. would be the first administration to lose jobs since Herbert Hoover's tenure back in the 1930s!
That's right, in every single administration since then, including Ford and Carter, millions of jobs were created. In W's, we've lost over two million. Now sorry Mother Jones, but you can't pin it all on him -- to me it just shows how extreme the boom and bust of this cycles has been. That and he still has 18 months to get in the black (be tough).
So why aren't Americans more up in arms about this? Simple: 9/11. Americans are scared, and while they aren't happy about losing their jobs, they are more worried about the sad current state of world affairs...What would Sad Sack think?
STOCKYARD Divorce Connecticut style: Let the guessing begin! Jack and Jane Welch have apparently settled their divorce. Wonder how much she got? $300 mil? Works for me...
Oil and gas and brokers were pretty much the only strong sectors today. Severe yawnage!...
Lots of red ink on both the NYSE and the NAZ. A few techs bucked the trend: Siebel, Yahoo, and (Sean Connery's fav) Level 3...
Brokers! They're back: Merrill climbin'. Knight says it tripled its profit forecast for Q2, stock was way up today -- we're talking about basically a double over the past three months. E*Trade up, too...
AT&T, that shadow of its former self, fell. Ditto with airlines and MOT...Blinded me with Boston Scientific.
BIRTHDAYS ON 7/4: Good barbecue conversation stuff: the good -- Dear Abby and Ann Landers. Also, Ron Kovacs, of course (Tom Cruise's best role)...the bad -- Leona Helmsley, Al Davis, George Steinbrenner and Mike Milken. (Hey Milken people, don't call me!)
PEPPERS Lots of STLF readers into this! Here are some e-mails:
"According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the 'siling labuyo' from the Philippines is the hottest pepper. Story goes that my uncle once put a bunch in his mouth to impress some girls and ended up doing quite the opposite. Norman"....
"If you want to try a really nasty little booger, bite into a Thai pepper that's only a 7. These peppers are about the size of a Mexican serrano pepper but have much more punch. I believe they are worse than habaneros because the oil content is higher and the hotness doesn't go away. Try it, you'll see what I mean. -- A. Sookma"....
Loose Change
Now this is good: 1) Go to Google.com 2) type in (but don't hit return): "weapons of mass destruction" 3) Hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button, instead of the normal "Google search" button 4) read what appears to be a normal error message carefully (Thanks KH)....
Man, they still have A LOT of work to do on that new AOL monstrosity at Columbus Circle. Done by the fall? I don't think so...
It's come to this: Saw a guy riding a Segway on the sidewalk in my neighborhood. No one batted an eye...
There's a thin line between a seersucker shirt and a wrinkled shirt, but there is a line...
Happy holiday!! (boom! boom!) Okay, I'm off until July 14. So be good, like you know you should!...
Humble scribes: There's no such thing as a serious journalist, only a pompous one.
Andrew Serwer is editor-at-large of Fortune magazine.
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