Another Mixed Report

Today's employment report was mixed.While the number of August jobless claims was less than July's by 60,000,the unemployment rate was up to 9.7% from 9.4%.Fewer people were laid off,but the total number of job seekers was greater.The situation on the street was more difficult,not less.Only a trader could see that as good news.Such is the strange world of the financial markets.They are an endless calculus of past,present and future,at once fascinating intellectually and detached from daily life,while at the same time affecting the destiny of retirees and other investors.Those who participate in them can only have feelings as mixed as the recent data have been,excited by their work yet commiserating with their countrymen.