Don't be fooled

With oil at a new high of $138.54 the stock market did not look that great yesterday. In fact it fell almost 400 points But don't be fooled about the new unemployment figures that came out.
Careful examination of the data revealed that the jump in the unemployment rate was not a reflection of lower employment levels (or an indication that the nonfarm payroll data are misleading). It was due either to a large number of people re-entering the labor force and being counted as unemployed, or to a one-month aberrant swing in the data. My bet would be on a combination of the two.

There was a gain in oil and gas stock while finance fell quite a bit yesterday. This was due to the SEC investigating the Dow component AIG for its swaps accounting and growing concerns about the rising consumer loan defaults that has hit the back stocks extra gard. I believe that there are some good buys in the financials right now. One is Centerline Holding Co (chc). It closed at $2.85 yesterday. I brought it at $2.50 a week ago. What I like about the stock is that it not to costly to get into it and it pays 21% dividends. So I brought 100 shares. Not to much to lose. Another one is Bank of America. It closed yesterday at $30.50 but only paying 8.39%. But with a 52 week high of $52.96, I do believe this will come back in time. So there you have my stock market report.

Along with the oil price you will also notice that gas is higher. I paid $3.99 last night (Cash price $3.94.) Where will the gas prices end up at this year?