Archive for confidence

Quickie- US unemployment aid applications plummet to 346K

greatnews

Gotta love adjusting!

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to a seasonally adjusted 346,000, suggesting March’s weak month of hiring may have been a temporary slowdown.

US unemployment aid applications plummet to 346K Unemployment aid applications dropped by 42,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The steep decline reversed sharp gains over the previous two weeks and brought the level back to a point that signals stronger job growth.

The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose 3,000 to 358,000.

Confidence

Today’s Quickie:

Who do you think is feeling more confident?

Obama Plays Basketball, Romney Barnstorms in Ohio and Pennsylvania

That was today’s Quickie. Was it good for you?

Irish Paddy Power Betting Site So Sure Obama Will Win It’s Paying Out a Day Early

Okay, I’m still trying to catch my breathe after laughing my butt off on that picture. Can you just imagine the wingnuts heads exploding becuase that beat threir RomBOt? SNORT. h/t Gawker

DUBLIN, Ireland, Nov. 4 (UPI) — An Irish betting company called Paddy Power is already paying out to gamblers who bet on President Barack Obama to win the U.S. election.

Despite polls showing Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney virtually tied, Paddy Power is paying out a total of more than $800,000 to those who bet on Obama, believing that he will win the race, the company said in a release.

A Paddy Power spokesperson said: “Romney gave it a good shot and is doing well in the popular vote, but we suspect he’s had his moment in the sun and is likely to be remembered more for his legendary gaffes than presidential potential. The overall betting trend has shown one way traffic for Obama and punters seemed to have called it 100 percent correct. Despite Romney appealing to the large evangelical and senior vote, America’s sticking with black and cool.”

US business stockpiles grew solid 0.6 percent in August as sales rose 0.5 percent

Not barn burning, but a slow steady growth. Apparently economists are feeling the growth too.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. companies restocked their shelves at a solid pace in August while sales rose for a second straight month. The combination of higher stockpiles and increased sales should help to boost economic growth.

Business inventories grew 0.6 percent in August following a July gain of 0.8 percent that had been the strongest since January, the Commerce Department said Monday. Sales were up 0.5 percent in August following a 0.9 percent rise in July that followed a big drop in June.

Companies typically boost their stockpiles when they anticipate sales will rise in coming months. Faster restocking helps drive economic growth. When businesses order more goods, it typically leads to more factory production.

Quickie- Home prices rise in nearly all major US cities

Sales are up, prices are up, confidence is up!! I like.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Home prices rose in nearly all major U.S. cities in April from March, further evidence of a housing market that is slowly improving even while the job market slumps.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday showed increases in 19 of the 20 cities tracked. That’s the second straight month that prices have risen in a majority of U.S. cities.

And a measure of national prices rose 1.3 percent in April from March, the first increase in seven months.

Gallup- Confidence in US public schools at record low

I’m glad I don’t have kids to worry about educating because I’ve never understood the ups and downs of the problems with the public schools. As far as I’m concerned, the public education system has been financially strangled by all governments the past twenty years and no money means no resources which means dumb kids.

A new poll says that confidence in U.S. public schools has dropped to the lowest level in nearly four decades.

Twenty-nine percent of those questioned in a Gallup poll said they had a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in public schools. Forty percent had some confidence while 30 percent expressed little or none.

When Gallup first measured confidence in public schools in 1973, 58 percent reported having a strong belief in the country’s educational system. Since then, that number has steadily tracked downward.

The survey released Wednesday also found record lows in public confidence in churches or organized religion, banks and television news.

Poll-itics: President Obama has double digit advantage over Mitt Romney

To follow up on Paddy’s “Yeah, it’s probably an outlier, but the sentiment is headed in our direction” post about Americans feeling they’re better off since President Obama took office, here’s more positive news from Bloomberg:

Washington (CNN) – A new national survey indicates President Barack Obama has opened up a double digit lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney in the race for the White House, an advantage for Obama that no other major poll released this month has found.

According to a Bloomberg National Poll released Wednesday, 53% of people likely to vote in the November presidential election say they support the president, with 40% saying they back Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and presumptive GOP nominee. [...]

According to the poll, by a 55%-36% margin, likely voters view Romney as more out of touch with average Americans than Obama. And only 39% have a favorable view of Romney, with 48% saying they see him in a negative light. Fifty-five percent say the have a favorable opinion of the president, with 36% saying they view him in an unfavorable way.

Willard? Out of touch? Why, whatever would make Americans think such a thing?