- Temporary employment trend marks a welcome sign for the jobs market. “The combination of fewer layoffs and more hiring provides some welcome news – but within the context of two years of job losses,” the Atlanta Fed’s macroblog.
- Did someone break a mirror? Could take almost seven years for the unemployment rate to revert back to 5%, University of Oregon economics professor Mark Thoma writes at MoneyWatch.
- Keep an eye out for percolating commodity prices and what impact they may play concerning Fed’s monetary policy, UC San Diego economics professor James Hamilton writes at Econbrowser.
- Citi repaying TARP is nice. And the focus will be on strong capital ratios once the deal is completed. But the bottom line is Citi still needs to get smaller and more profitable, Reuters blogger Felix Salmon says.
- Exxon’s $31B bet.
- President Obama calls bankers “fat cats” and lashes out at Wall Street over increasing tensions surrounding financial reform. But is Obama merely posturing with rhetoric on bankers? Naked capitalism’s Yves Smith weighs in.
- John Hussman’s at it again, making the case that the S&P 500 is “decidedly speculative” at current levels. And the long-term outcome for risk-taking at these levels will “almost undoubtedly be unrewarding.”
- Real Time Economics gathers some remembrances of economist Paul Samuelson, who passed Sunday. He was 94.
- Will Tiger Woods ever be the same?
