From NJBIA:
NJ Hiring Slows in March as Jobless Rate Ticks Up to 4.7%
New Jersey had a net loss of 2,700 jobs during the month of March and the state’s unemployment rate increased slightly to 4.7%, according to preliminary U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics datareleased Thursday by the state labor officials.
The 0.1 percentage point rise in the state’s unemployment is the first increase in the jobless rate since May of 2024. New Jersey’s 4.7% unemployment rate also exceeds the national rate, which was 4.2% in March.
Total New Jersey nonfarm employment was 4,393,800. Two of nine private industry sectors recorded job gains in March compared to February: education and health services (+2,700) and other services (+1,000). The public sector gained 700 jobs.
Job losses occurred in leisure and hospitality (-3,600); construction (-1,200); professional and business services (-1,000); manufacturing (-600); financial activities (-400); trade, transportation, and utilities (-100); and information (-100).
The government’s preliminary job estimates for February were also downwardly revised by 5,500 jobs for a gain of 13,700 jobs instead of the 19,200 previously reported for that month. The revision did not affect the 4.6% state unemployment rate for February.
Over the past 12 months, New Jersey has added 33,800 nonfarm jobs, with 76% of those in the private sector. Between March 2024 and March 2025 five private sector industries had gains: private education and health services (+35,800), other services (+2,600), trade, transportation, and utilities (+900), manufacturing (+500), and financial activities (+100).
Year-over-year losses were recorded in these four sectors: information (-4,900); professional and business services (-4,900); construction (-2,400); and leisure and hospitality (-1,900).
The public sector has recorded a gain of 8,000 jobs over the same 12-month period.
1
Easter Monday so everything is closed today. Finishing painting the living room of the neighbor’s house we bought. Things are moving along. New metal garden gate and roof with aluminium frame should get installed in May just in time for the good summer weather. Life could be worse.
Pretty sure after meeting with JD Vance the Pope just decided to check out.
MON, APR 21 2025
6:24 AM EDT
Dow futures drop 300 points to start the week: Live updates
Sean Conlon
One look at Satan close up. Done.
Bye bye Pope.
It’s an omen of things to come.
Hegseth Said to Have Shared Attack Details in Second Signal Chat
The defense secretary sent sensitive information about strikes in Yemen to an encrypted group chat that included his wife and brother, people familiar with the matter said.
April 20, 2025
What good is power if you can’t show it off?
MON, APR 21 2025
7:34 AM EDT
Dow futures drop 400 points to start the week: Live updates
Lisa Kailai Han
Sean Conlon
re: “What good is power if you can’t show it off?”
No day off around here for Easter. White House Easter Egg roll scheduled for 10:30 AM. This event is brought to you by our sponsors YouTube, Amazon, and Facebook.
I am sure the media will make a spectacle out of it as the President declares the egg emergency is officially over.
My School Bucks.
When is Trump gonna drain that swamp? POS company that can be difficult to avoid. Legalized loan sharking.
Please, please bring back the real mob. I’d prefer the public shootings vs the legalized criminal behavior of organizations like this.
Nobody can be as cool as a nightclub bouncer turned Pope. RIP Pope Francis.
And Phoenix @7:09, you are so right.
As an atheist I am still so comfortable in saying he was a great man!
One look at Satan close up. Done.
The Pope was Satan?
As an atheist, I’d say that Francis was the most Christian of the Popes I’ve followed. He had the closest relationship to the LatAm “liberation theology” Marxist SJWs of the popes yet. Wonder if the church will go full Liberation Theology, AOC-style pope next.
Dedicated to No One:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aw12JW77fV4&pp=ygUQSG90IHZpZGVvIG9mIGFvYw%3D%3D
Oh yeah, Jim/smol gov…..Trumps soooooo busy destroying your 401k he barely has time for golf!!
BREAKING!
MON, APR 21 2025
10:25 AM EDT
Dow tumbles 700 points as Trump knocks Powell, investors await trade deals: Live updates
Lisa Kailai Han
Sean Conlon
Thanks Chi,
What I realized watching that video is that while AOC has a bountiful busom, but even in college had early-stage cankles, and that’s something that doesn’t improve with time. I wonder if she even had any deep political philosophy thoughts in college, or if even her left wing activism is generated more by a shallow tribalism.
Fetishizes AOC….then complains about her “mind”…
If AOC didn’t have big boobs she’d be an anonymous congresswoman only known by far left fringe democrats. Like the Republicans’ Warren Davidson on the other side.
UPDATED MON, APR 21 2025
10:49 AM EDT
Dow drops 800 points as Wall Street sell-off worsens to start the week: Live updates
Effective or Ineffective?
UPDATED MON, APR 21 2025
11:08 AM EDT
Dow drops 900 points as Wall Street sell-off worsens to start the week: Live updates
Lisa Kailai Han
Sean Conlon
Kind of like Lauren Boebert would just be trailer trash giving handies in dollar theatres.
sOmE pEopLe lIkE AOC’s biiiig teef…. And her tween voice.
Lauren Bobbing Up & Down.
Are we bringing up AOC because everything is down?
Get a life boys!
The grifter in chief needs to be the focus. He cannot be fired any sooner.
I think the rage from the left isn’t aimed at Trump himself so much as: a) they have nothing to offer s0ciety for the betterment of all and b) even if they did, there’s no effective plan to implement it because it’s built on pure emotion. This keeps leftists and liberals in a perpetual state of agitation as the subconscious realizes there’s no relief from their permanent exhaustion. What hell it must be to be trapped in this manner of thought.
RIP Pope Francis.
We can try to be cool, but never as cool as a bar bouncer turned Pope.
Clever talking points Eddie. But have you considered that you are fooling no one but yourself?
I was talking to a neighbor Indian dude who is working on a gig at FoxNews. I tested the waters and brought up the stock market.
He was like… “omg, my portfolio is down big time. Nowhere to hide, even the blue chips are down. Powell has to go!”
How is it everyone else’s fault but Trump’s?
I remember back in the olden days of 2016, when Hillary Clinton opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership and threatened to tariff China at her speech in Warren Michigan.
Now that the orange man is doing it, somehow it’s bad.
There is always a weak similarity to stroke yourself up when things are down. Good job D-FENS.
Democrats can get 9 out of 10 things right, and will get ripped apart for the one thing wrong. Like a tan suit for example or a secure email server. But okay with poop tan and Signal chats on bombs.
But lets not digress… Is he going to fire Powell?
Pathetic stupidity of Maga to put tariffs on the whole world, fail to significantly cut the real big spending programs that drive both the budget and trade deficits, and then point fingers at the central bank for somehow not magically making it all work to financial markets’ advantage. Trump is always living in his own imaginary world where he’s a better president than George Washington, but it’s the Republican leadership and the laymen who are the enablers of his solipsism.
There are plenty of places to hide. Defensive stocks are named that for a reason.
Tariffs on and de-normalization of trade with China is probably a very worthwhile, but still costly effort. The only way to make it work is to actually do more trade with all the other countries. But Trump instead shocked every other country, including the countries we’d be depending on the most, which is going to make them less not more helpful in this huge transition away from China. Instead he’s trying to bully them around like he’d bully his forecaddy on the golf course, yelling at him that he saw a bird fly away with his 300 yard drive in the middle of the fairway, and that ball the caddy saw sliced 160 yards into the right rough had to be someone else’s, and if he wants his tip, he better place that damn Titleist where it belongs.
re: “transition away from China.”
JD Vance is in India working on a trade this week. Let’s hope he does not f-up and Modi decides to align with China instead. God forbid we lose all those tiny nimble hands making our cheap crap, the work has to be done somewhere and it ain’t here.
fail to significantly cut the real big spending programs that drive both the budget and trade deficits…
Such as?
There is a golf club in NY State that Trump is a member of.. The caddies there took to nicknaming him “Pele” since he would kick his ball onto the fairway all the time.
However you have to give him some credit.. When the PGA soured on using his courses, he worked with Greg Norman and the Saudis to get LIV started here with tournaments at his courses. LIV quickly became a real rival of the PGA which forced the golf tours to merge. He got his revenge on the PGA and made money too.
A while back we discussed, or someone posted a story, about a whole bunch of certain vintage commercial RE loans coming due in 2025. However, with the 10 year where it is, there’s zero chance of ability to refi.
I guess at some point this year that bill will come due? This is going to be the third year of an environment where it’s not as simple as buy/refi.
I am wondering about this in the context of market plumbing liquidity and stability.
India has a big chance to bring a lot of ultra-poor labor into the world market. For decades their bureaucracy has made it hard to manufacture in India. They are also quite protectionist. If they could get more of their cheap labor out of manual farming and garbage picking, and into Iphone making, both the US and India would be better off. I don’t think there’s a lot of US product that could export to India however. The average Indian car sells for about $8000 new, is smaller and would be illegal to sell in the US lacking many safety requirements. The average motorcycle sells for about $1000, despite efforts to sell Harleys to the rich there. Maybe the US could sell them some grains, but like most countries, India protects their small farmers more than anyone, so big industrial farm tractors don’t sell that much there.
re: Commerical loans.
Do you mean the massive portfolios at our biggest banks like JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, and PNC Bank?
Look they are too big to fail. Any signs of distress means a new Maiden Lane IXV program. Cash for trash… rinse and repeat.
re: “I don’t think there’s a lot of US product that could export to India however.”
Trade imbalance with India? We can send them some prisoners.
UPDATED MON, APR 21 2025
12:52 PM EDT
Dow tumbles 1,000 points as Trump’s Powell attacks add to investors’ concerns: Live updates
Lisa Kailai Han
Sean Conlon
A thief stole DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s bag this weekend, including her driver’s license, medication, apartment keys, passport, DHS access badge, makeup bag, blank checks, and about $3,000 in cash
1:09 PM EDT
Dow tumbles 1,100:: Live updates
Lisa Kailai Han
Sean Conlon
Who walks around with $3k in cash? Most cops will arrest and confiscate with that kind of money.
Juice,
That’s a good point. Why do US prisoners have to stay in the US while they are in prison? India and Mexico could definitely run medium to low security prisons more cheaply.
Eddie
https://www.pgpf.org/article/chart-pack-the-us-budget/
Social Security (21%), Medicare, Medicaid (combined 24%), are the big ones. “Earned Income Tax Credit” and similar negative income taxes and food stamps is about 7%. Debt interest there’s not much you can do. Defense is 13% not counting retired veterans.
Trump has never had any appetite to tackle the core US welfare state which is over 50% of spending. Historically, he politically attacked more conservative Republicans than him, telling the old and poor that he was going to protect these government payments from other Republicans.
I suspect that if Trump installed a new dovish Fed Chair, the remaining board members would refuse to cut rates, just to show Trump that they are independent, and even though it seems that way, don’t have to do whatever the Fed Chair says.
No One – ” Debt interest there’s not much you can do.”
Lower the rates and refinance the debt… $3 billion per day in interest on the national debt. Shave off quite a bit with lower rates. I believe Yellen piled into short term debt less than 2 years about a 1/3rd of it?
China issues global warning that any country renegotiating trade deals with US not approved by China will face consequences. Can they do that. Calling Mr Vance you are needed in China
Ten 440
12:37, what do you mean we cannot export much to India.
As ironic as it is, Modi’s India is ready to accept al the fascism that US can export. Racism too. It already exports a lot of low cost casteism to the US.
Vance will seal the deal.
One way to make interest rate costs rise is to announce to the world you’re researching ways of getting rid of the remnants of central bank independence. There are other ways too.
Also, a lot of the demand for treasuries come from Japan and China, with flows driven by trade surpluses to the US. With that in question, funding flows get lower. US savers alone would want a higher interest rate to convince them to finance a perpetually expanding deficit. The Fed and treasury can conspire to try to repress interest rates to a degree, until they find they can’t.
Everyone enjoying the show?
Juice
LIV is not a rival to the PGA, it’s a joke. It’s a few good golfers, and a whole lot of has beens and never were’s. The golf tours haven’t merged, discussions were called off. LIV will slowly dissipate. But you’ll able to watch them try to get back on tour via Q school. I’m guessing three or four out of the 70 or so “stars” will make it back.
NPR reporting that the White House is looking for someone to replace Hegseth.
Hughesrep,
I watched a bit of the last round of the Doral competition because I hadn’t seen that course in a while. You’re right it’s a joke. With the loud rock & roll playing as the guys tee off, and the announcers pretending that anyone cares about whether the “Smash” are ahead of the “Hy Flyers” and Dustin Johnson and John Rahm looking like they are just gritting their teeth to play on what’s basically a highly paid labor strike, financed by the Saudis, you get all this noise, and yet there’s no joy. Not quite as fake and stupid as Tiger Woods’ indoor simulator league, but close. It’s all basically golf designed for drunk spectators with ADHD.
My solution is to pay more attention to the LPGA where they play tees closer to mine and Nelly Korda sometimes wears yoga tights on the course. Yesterday’s winner wasn’t much of a sight though. Ingrid Lindblad looked a bit like Greta Thunberg on steroids, but bless her heart, she won.
Watching golf is about as exciting as watching chess. ;)
Lib if you have some play money it’s fun to throw some $ at SDS and sell by end of day.
Hughes – LIV supposedly offered $1.5 Billion for a merger…so let’s see of they really turn down the money or just keep asking for more. LIV also says it’s prepared to pump billions more into promoting it’s own league all the while losing hundreds of millions a year now. It’s only a matter of time…
I like watching the LPGA. They are smooth, and brilliant inside 150.
Charlie Hull scares me in a good way.
Saudis paying Trump courses are just a bribe.
Walking, I prefer to gamble in the casino.
Maaaama Saaaaid theeese shhoooes would taaaaake me annnywheeeere.
I wonder what sector might benefit the most from lower interest rates?
Right, the one the Grifter in Chief is heavily involved in.
Are we great yet? How are those wars in Russia and Israel?
Flame on MAGA.
No more season lawn pass at the PNC.
https://newjersey.news12.com/live-nations-decision-to-end-popular-lawnies-pass-program-has-fans-across-nj-in-uproar?fbclid=IwY2xjawJzkBVleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHicNn-18VGsjE8MnCLNG19FH0Xqu5eZyxPxrW5WlxehGe-Lzl46mojwXCJyq_aem_ODPW7Sm-i2CLuGWbiEGo8A
Of the 30 individual stocks I follow closely, only one of them finished in the green.
Want to guess which one that was? Hint: It wasn’t DNA.
DJT, up over 2%, while every major index was down over 2%. Hmmm. Where’s the organization to look into such strange stock behavior? Right, the swamp was drained. And filled with the largest cesspool of grifting miscreants the world has ever seen.
This is MAGA. Oh, what they have accomplished. For themselves. How is your personal wealth? Right. You should be in defensive stocks.
Many moons ago I worked for a startup that got bought by a british company that got bought by HP, then spun off and eventually bought by a Canadian company. This Canadian company just grew by acquisitions.. that was basically their customer aquisition strategy. While I’ve moved on, I still have friends – who chose to simply evolve with the product/company.. they have seen many mergers, managers, kids, wives, etc. Quite a feat actually – to stick with one company through all the M&As and life’s personal journey.
Well, today my US friends got laid off by the Canadian company. By this Canadian company that’s private and is not known for layoffs. And I’ll tell you it’s not because of just economics.
The Canadian distrust of America is real.
Everyone enjoying the show?
Which one? The prime time, Netflix style, January 6th saga starring Darth Vader’s daughter and Adam Shit? Or the ‘Blow in the White House’ mystery theater? Or the ‘joe is as not as sharp as a tack’ book tours hitting the shelves? Or the Fellation Reduction Act that increased the debt to the Kármán line? Or maybe the two wars unleashed due to paper thin foreign diplomacy? Or do you mean the daily Legacy Media lies about anything else that doesn’t fit the ‘gapping hole’ liberal lunacy?
Wuuuut.
Ya’ll better stock up on peanut butter.
The most entertaining tales you lefties tell are the anecdotal stories of people you know that got killed, laid off, went bankrupt, was run out of town, got kidnaped, disappeared, evaporated, was bilked, railroaded and robbed due to right wing incompetence. And each time, they fit 100% into your narratives of “I told you so.” It never fails. It’s stunning and remarkable.
It’s all fun and games until it’s you that gets cut.
Talked to another old friend who runs a smaller US manufacturing operation. They are moving their core manufacturing to nowheresville South/Eastern Europe, downsizing in the US.
Cheaper to ship from China to Europe, final assembly there, ship to the US where some token additional assembly is done, QC, packaged along with accessories, etc.
They have a decent customer base across Europe, so it’s not a stretch.
My brother thinks his current firm will shutter in weeks, end game for them.
Two current clients, somewhat larger scale, have enacted global price increases in an attempt to reduce the pricing impact to the US market. These are both household names. Third I talked to, wishes they could leverage this approach but leadership doesn’t think it’s worth trading global marketshare to maintain US. First two are very price insensitive businesses (inelastic, but discretionary), third is very price sensitive with numerous alternatives.
6:27, so you don’t want believe the news, don’t trust science, or the weather guy, or your blog fellas. Where do you get your information from? Nascar ads?
Tariffs are going to have a big impact on people’s hobbies too in collectibles and doing arts and crafts
https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/tariffs-concern-retailers-of-trading-card-supplies-and-shop-owners/
A lot of supplies for collectibles have already doubled in the last few weeks. Almost everything made out of plastic to store cards, coins, stamps, comics comes from China. And almost all polymailers and shipping labels are made in china too. Even a lot of the shipping boxes come from china.
Top Donations to Trump’s Inaugural Committee:
• Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. – $5,000,000
• Ripple Labs – ~$4,900,000
• Warren Stephens – $4,000,000 (Ambassador to UK)
• Jared Isaacman – $2,000,000 (Nominee to lead NASA)
• Melissa Argyros – $2,000,000 (Ambassador to Latvia)
• Amazon – $1,000,000 (Jeff Bezos attended)
• Meta – $1,000,000 (Mark Zuckerberg attended)
• Apple (Tim Cook) – $1,000,000
• Tilman Fertitta – $1,000,000 (Ambassador to Italy)
• Linda McMahon – $1,000,000 (Education Secretary)
• Cantor Fitzgerald – $1,047,000 (Howard Lutnick’s former employer)
• Jeffrey Sprecher – $1,000,000 (NYSE Chair; married to SBA head)
• Miriam Adelson – $1,000,000 (GOP donor)
• Ken Griffin – $1,000,000 (GOP donor)
Notable Tech & Crypto/AI Donors (~$500K+ range):
• Solana Labs
• Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO)
• C3.ai
• Coinbase
• Galaxy Digital Services
• Perplexity AI
Energy Sector Donors (each $500K+):
• Chevron
• ConocoPhillips
• ExxonMobil
• Shell
• Occidental Petroleum
• American Petroleum Institute (PAC)
Other Corporate Donors:
• Live Nation – $500,000
• DraftKings – Just under $500,000
• FanDuel – Just under $500,000
Tech Companies (six-figure donations):
• Micron
• Nvidia
• Qualcomm
• Microsoft
Health Care Companies (six-figure donations):
• Hims
• Johnson & Johnson
• Merck
• Pfizer
• Amgen
Other Notable GOP Donors (six-figure checks):
• Ricketts family
• Schwab family
• DeVos family
• Scott Bessent – $250,000 (Treasury Secretary)
That sucks. Sorry to hear it Grim.
In 12-18 months “they” think we’ll be in recession.
Total inaugural donations, more than double the last record, by the same man : $239 Million.
If you believe this man isnup to any good you are an effin moron.
Hughesrep,
Charlie Hull, I saw her up close for a few holes at a tournament earlier this year. She’s bigger than I thought, powerfully built, yet still is all woman.
While Korda is as tall and thin in person as she looks. Korda hits it far while swinging smooth. Hull hits it about as far, with more effort. The shocking one is Furue, about as tall as her 3 wood, and found a short caddie to match, but still hits her driver 250y and straight, and is about as accurate with her woods as I am with a pitching wedge.
My wife is still jobless. I suppose that’s fake news?
Grim I’m sorry to hear about your bro’s predicament. The firm he represented in his videos (not sure if it’s the current one) had a number of their designs pirated and cloned in the last decade, one of which is hailed as a ‘must have’ pedal by so many enthusiast forums, and often without mention that it’s a ripoff of a domestic product that’s still in production… shame.
Looks like our former Senator Menendez and his wife are going to jail. She was convicted today on all counts. Sentencing is in June for both. Remains to be seen if they will be free on appeal.
Sorry to hear all the folks out of work or close to it.. I have one cousin out of work for an extended period, works for Wall St so really not sure why not working, other than perhaps ageism. No second salary to fall back on never married. I could see them leaving NYC to a lower cost location even in Europe in a year or so. Has two homes on in Brooklyn and a place in Hamptons all loaded up
with mortgages and taxes. Had to be a hefty monthly nut…
How is your personal wealth?
Up 65% over the last five years.
https://www.5yearcharts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/dow-jones-5y.png
9:49 bless ur heart
What a winner!
https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D4E22AQHlKEy4ri_BPQ/feedshare-shrink_800/B4EZZafLM4HkAo-/0/1745274845082?e=1748476800&v=beta&t=MW6y1L1f7xmjh1cmsU7RA8H-SKppjRAMtqQeDhad2tw
Up 65% over the last five years.
So the Biden years were good for you. Not surprising.
So the Biden years were good for you.
It was the ‘dem by committee’ years. Joe thought he was a senator. The Trump years were even better!
https://www.5yearcharts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/dow-jones-vs-cpi-10y-672×372.png
I thought Eddie was going to show his stash of gold hidden in his backyard, by the pool, where he feeds the ducks. (picture fat Tony Soprano).
https://youtu.be/ANevQOyM5x8?si=ySPaV9UE5akFu04w
Are we Ghey, yet????
BREAKING: $1.4 trillion was wiped from the stock market today.
The market is on pace for its worst April since 1932!
Are you tired of winning yet?
Sold half of my gold yesterday and converted into Swiss Franc and Yen. I’m not tired of winning.
took a dip in Nike as well…selling looks like it’s been exhausted in that one
I liked it better when we could still invest in America.