Stock prices are a bit lower this morning following a report from the Labor Department that the number of people filing for unemployment benefits fell by 6,000 in the past week to 462,000. That was a smaller decline than had been expected. Also, the number of people receiving jobless benefits on an ongoing basis rose in the past week to 4.56 million. By the way, economists at Deutsche Bank are forecasting that U.S. payrolls will increase by 350,000 in March. The main reason for the increase will be the staffing of Census Bureau workers all across the country.
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Speaking of the Census, the 2010 Census Portrait of America Road Tour pulls into National City tomorrow. The purpose of the tour is to "motivate America's growing and increasingly diverse population to complete and mail back the 10-question census form when it arrives in mailboxes." The event will be at the Westfield Plaza Bonita Shopping Mall from 3 to 7 p.m.
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San Diego-based Illumina has announced it recently sequenced the DNA of actress Glenn Close. "We are entering a new era of genomic health where information from an individual's genome will increasingly inform lifestyle decisions and ultimately assist with health management," said CEO Jay Flatley. In a press release, Close said, "There is bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in my family, illnesses that, like other medical conditions, are thought to have genetic underpinnings." Close is the co-creator of a nonprofit organization called Bring Change 2 Mind, which raises awareness of mental illness and the attitudes people have about it.
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Thanks to the controversy surrounding bonuses that are paid to Wall Street executives, the image of people in the financial industry has taken a beating. A new Harris Poll finds that 66 percent of the people surveyed agreed to the statement, "Most people on Wall Street would be willing to break the law if they believed they could make a lot of money and get away with it." I wonder what percentage of the general public would do the same thing? And, 64 percent of the people disagreed with the statement, "In general, people on Wall Street are as honest and moral as other people."
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Carlos Slim has edged out Bill Gates as the wealthiest man in the world. The new list of billionaires from Forbes magazine finds the Mexican entrepreneur is worth $53.5 billion, just slightly ahead of Gates. By the way, at least four relatives of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton are on the list of 937 worldwide billionaires. If you add up the net worths of Walton's relatives, it totals more than $80 billion. That means that if Sam were still alive today, he would be far and away the wealthiest man in the world. That probably really irks some people out there.
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The "Cash for Appliances" rebate program here in California gets started today. The state has allocated more than $35 million for rebates of up to $200 on Energy Star-qualified appliances. People who take advantage of the program are also required to recycle their old appliances.
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Some new titles are out from Alpha Books in their popular "Complete Idiot's" series. A couple that should be sold in tandem are "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Buying a Home" and "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Paranormal."
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