Category: work

Boosted by news of a higher-than-expected jump in the Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing managers’ index, the Dow jumped 3.2 percent to 265 today!

The December ISM index, a reading on manufacturing, showed a surprisingly large jump to 54.7 from 49.2 in November, when economists were expecting a rise to only 50.1. It marked the first time the sector has shown growth since August; [emphasis mine] a reading above 50 is considered a sign of expansion in the sector.

“It’s all the ISM number. We started the morning where it seemed like no one was gonna invest, and then all of a sudden, the number comes out and the buyers are back. It’s kind of a big surprise,” said Brian Finnerty, managing director at Melhado Flynn & Associates. […]

Go economy!

Was 2002 a good year economically? NPR’s Marketplace put in this way in a 2002 timeline of each month’s economic events:

• January: K-Mart files for bankruptcy. Argentina devalues its currency.
• February: The Enron hearings.
• March: The accounting firm Arthur Andersen indicted.
• April: Merrill Lynch’s CEO apologizes for allowing his company to fall short of expectations with regard to its analysis of stock.
• May: Unemployment hits an eight-year high.
• June: Arthur Andersen found guilty.
• July: President Bush, speaking near Wall Street, denounces a climate of greed.
• August: Questions about Martha Stuart’s biotech share sale and US Airways files for bankruptcy.
• September: The September 11^th anniversary.
• October: West coast ports are reopened after a lock-out.
• November: SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt quits.
• December: United Airlines files for bankruptcy protection and the Treasury Secretary is forced out.

Add to this a simmering confrontation with Iraq, Osama Bin-Laden, and the anthrax killer still at-large, and Scooby Doo’s big screen debut and, what, you thought stocks were going to go up? […]

Hmm, such reports give me an odd feeling of schadenfreude.

I think Pud said it best:

“Unpaid time off over the holidays — It’s like the opposite of a Christmas present.”

;)

Half the company was laid off today, including me.

I was still a contractor there, but I was getting closer to the hire part of the contract-to-hire stage. However, my boss tells me that they may be able to bring me back within a couple weeks, even. So, I have my hopes up.

As it’s a popular means of communications here at work, I’ve installed AIM. I’m reachable via AIM with Screen Name standardsfanatic or, as always, with 3812078 on ICQ.