Weekly update 11/2/2012

The last economic data to be released before the election has given no advantage to either candidate. We did pick up 171,000 jobs in October, a little better than forecast, and revised up another 84,000 in prior months. However, the average workweek was unchanged for the fourth month in a row, and hourly earnings fell slightly, over the last year rising only 1.6%. "U-6", the measure of unemployment including "involuntary part-time," is still 14.6%. On net a brighter sign than the jobs report: the ISM survey of manufacturing in October crawled 0.2 further into positive ground at 51.7. Markets are flat, I think suppressed more by the election than anything, although stocks are clearly hurt by diminished earnings. Foreign action has also been muted and deferred by our election, especially in Europe.