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DOW + 211 = 17,884
SPX + 21 = 2062
NAS + 48 = 4765
10 YR YLD + .02 = 1.82%
OIL + 2.26 = 50.71
GOLD – 4.40 = 1265.50
SILV – .11 = 17.32
More people sought unemployment benefits last week, but the number of applicants remained near historic lows in a positive sign for job growth. The Labor Department says that weekly applications rose 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 278,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell 6,500 to 292,750. That average has plunged 15 percent over the past 12 months.
Worker productivity declined in the fourth quarter of 2014, while labor costs increased. Productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, fell at 1.8 percent rate in the fourth quarter after rising at a 3.7 percent rate in the third quarter. Labor costs increased at a 2.7 percent rate in the fourth quarter after having fallen at a 2.3 percent rate in the third quarter. The drop in productivity and rise in labor costs are reflected in the fact that the growth in overall output slowed in the fourth quarter.
The U.S. trade deficit jumped 17.1% in December to a two-year high. The nation’s trade gap jumped to a seasonally adjusted $46 billion in December from a revised $39 billion in the prior month.
If Anthem is your health insurer it may be time to change your passwords – all of them. Anthem (ANTM) said hackers broke into a database containing personal information for about 80 million of its customers and employees in what is likely to be the biggest data breach disclosed by a health-care company. Anthem said the breach exposed “names, birthdays, street addresses, social security numbers and employment information, including income data,†but added that no financial information, including credit card details, was compromised. Anthem said it would send a letter and email to everyone whose information was stored in the hacked database. It also set up an informational website, www.anthemfacts.com, and will offer to provide a credit-monitoring service.
This next item won’t do anything to prevent hacking, but it will mean that you have the same access to the internet as anybody else. FCC chairman Tom Wheeler is now officially on board supporting the strongest possible version of net neutrality. Wheeler said by placing broadband Internet providers such as Comcast (CMCSA) and Verizon Wireless (VZ) under a stricter regulatory regime, consumers would be ensured an open Internet under Title II. Under the new plan, broadband providers would be explicitly banned from blocking content or creating fast lanes for Web services that can pay for preferential treatment into American homes.
