Market Update:
The official Jobs Report for November was released - and the improving numbers were a big surprise to the markets.

According to the Labor Department, only 11,000 jobs were lost in November, despite expectations of 125,000 jobs lost. This marks the least number of jobs lost in nearly two years - since December 2007. Adding to the favorable news, the Unemployment Rate improved to 10.0%, when expectations were for it to remain at the 10.2% level.

In other news, based on early numbers, 195 Million shoppers hit the stores and websites on Black Friday, which was up from last year's 172 Million. Cyber Monday - the online equivalent of Black Friday - also showed an increase in web shoppers, up by 6% from last year. It appears that the shopping traffic was up, but the dollars-per-shopper may be down a bit. This might be indicative of not only consumers being conservative...but also the fact that with all the deep sales taking place to incent buyers, fewer dollars may be spent to get the very same merchandise as a year ago.

In the housing market, houses are still selling in December and Buyers are and should be taking advantage of the lower interest rates, around 4.75%! And to know that there are motivated sellers with fewer showings in this month and are ready to deal!

Come to our Free Buyers Class or call us on how you could be taking advantage of what is out there on Tax Incentives, Lower Interest Rates, and Lower Home Prices!