LATE NIGHT

via econompicdata.com
State by State Unemployment: Nowhere to Hide
The BLS details:
Between August and September 2009, 15 states and the District of Columbia experienced statistically significant changes in employment, all of which were decreases. The largest statistically significant job losses occurred in New York (-81,700), Texas (-44,700), California (-39,300), Wisconsin (-21,700), and Michigan (-21,500). The smallest statistically significant decreases in employment occurred in Hawaii (-4,200), Nebraska (-6,300), and Arkansas (-7,700).
Over the year, 46 states experienced statistically significant changes in employment, all of which were decreases. The largest statistically significant job losses occurred in California (-732,700), Florida (-360,400), Michigan (-308,800), Illinois (-306,900), Texas (-303,700), Ohio (-258,100), New York (-256,100), and Georgia (-245,400). The smallest statistically significant decreases in employment occurred in South Dakota (-7,900) and Montana (-8,400).

Dollar Strengthens After China’s Third-Quarter GDP Report
Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar rebounded from a 14-month low against the euro after China’s third-quarter production figures disappointed some investors, paring demand for riskier assets.
The U.S. currency climbed to $1.4987 to the euro as of 12:43 p.m. in Tokyo from as weak as $1.5036 earlier today. The dollar advanced to 91.11 yen from as low as 90.78

from wsj.com
Struggling dairy farmers will receive a $350 million infusion of cash from the government, but some worry the additional aid won't be enough to pull them through the dairy industry's worst economic storm in three decades.
While consumers have benefited some in the form of lower retail milk prices, many dairy farmers are flailing. Farmers have already sent to slaughter hundreds of thousands of cows in the hope that removing the animals from the market would reduce milk supply and boost prices.
The dairy aid was included in an agriculture appropriations bill, under an amendment sponsored by Sen. Bernard Sanders, a Vermont independent.
Of the $350 million, $60 million will be used to purchase cheese and other dairy products for food banks and nutrition programs. The remainder will fund direct support to dairy farmers.
This is the latest step by the government to help the dairy industry. In July, the Department of Agriculture said it was raising the price it paid for cheese and milk under a government purchasing program, which it said would increase dairy farmers' revenue by $243 million this year. The department also increased efforts to send nonfat dry milk overseas.
*do you know what milk cost in 1961? $1 a gallon. Government has been price fixing milk for decades. Its time they stop. Gouging consumers with inflated prices for a lousy cup of tea at $6 per gal just last year is outrageous. Stop subsidizing farmers along with the banks and maybe we would have more productive with less dairy farms.

Bailout's hidden costs
SigTARP Neil Barofsky, overseer of the $700 billion TARP program, says the cost to taxpayers will be a lot greater than the government is letting on.
A new report from Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky says the $700 billion bailout will cost more than many think.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The $700 billion bailout will ultimately cost taxpayers billions of dollars, but the government stands to lose much more than the money it's pouring into companies.
Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for Treasury's financial sector rescue, wrote in a report released Wednesday that the bailout has several hidden costs.
One is the hard cost of borrowing money to fund the rescues of banks and other companies. The others are, according to Barofsky, less tangible but no less important: The danger that comes with rewarding companies that took excessive risk, and the loss of the government's credibility with taxpayers.
"You can't just think of this program in terms of dollars and cents," Barofsky told CNNMoney. "We try to bring attention to these other costs, which have the potential to dwarf the monetary loss in dollars."
To be sure, the monetary loss will likely be substantial: Barofsky cites the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Troubled Asset Relief Program will ultimately cost taxpayers $159 billion.
But Barofsky focuses his report, a quarterly update to Congress and the public, on what he identifies as the unseen costs and risks of TARP.

Chart Mid Week from dshort.com

Bear Turns to Bull?
October 21, 2009 updated each market day
The S&P 500 closed the day 59.8% above the March 9th low, which is 30.9% below the peak in October 2007.