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ANALYSIS

Sagging Index no longer reflects what’s going on in the market, some say, Replacements? Google it, to start.
 
Downward price spiral will actually boost the cost of capital for most companies. CFOS, take note.
 
The latest bailout at AIG could be a preview of how the president will deal with Wall Street.
 
No corporate defaults. Big debt offerings. Percolating CP issuance. Things may be looking up in the capital markets.
 
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Employers shed more than half a million jobs in December
Annual cut in payrolls largest since end of World War II


(Reuters)—Employers slashed payrolls by 524,000 in December, driving the unemployment rate to its highest level in almost 16 years, a government report showed on Friday, suggesting that the year-long recession was deepening.

The Labor Department said the national unemployment rate rose to 7.2% in December, the highest level since January 1993. The jobless rate was 6.8% in November.

Analysts polled by Reuters predicted a reduction of 550,000 jobs in December. November’s job losses were revised to show a cut of 584,000, previously reported as a 533,000 loss, while October’s losses were revised to 423,000 from a decline of 320,000. With those revisions, the total reduction in U.S. nonfarm payrolls in the four months through December was 1.9 million.

The largest number of job losses in December was in services-providing businesses, which shed 273,000 jobs.

Total job losses for 2008 was 2.6 million, the largest decline since a 2.750 million drop in 1945.

Write to the editors at fw_editor@financialweek.com.
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