The numbers for October 3, 2014
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The numbers for October 3, 2014
Bouncing back from August’s disappointing numbers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday the economy added 248,000 jobs in September, and unemployment fell to 5.9 percent, which is a six-year low. Several economists told the Wall Street Journal they were pleased with the reports, and in Forbes the Chief Strategist for TD Ameritrade said, “Woo hoo.” Indeed.
Now economists are mulling how these encouraging numbers — and the less encouraging average hourly wage and workforce participation rate — will change the potential for an interest rate hike next year.
In the meantime, here are other numbers we’re watching Friday.
That’s the number of people who registered as organ donors online the day Facebook started letting users note their donor status on their profiles. That’s 21 times more than the daily average registration, Reuters reports, and it’s key to Facebook’s new foray into the red-hot health tech market. Plans to formalize existing health-related communities on the site are reportedly in the works, along with new applications.
You might notice that number is somewhat higher than one million, the number of accounts JPMorgan Chase originally said were breached in a cyberattack this summer. A securities filing Thursday revealed 76 million households and 7 million small businesses were affected by the hack, the New York Times reported, making it one of the largest. The Times reports the firm says no financial information was stolen, just contact info.
The number of times former Fed chair Ben Bernanke has refinanced his mortgage, Bloomberg reported. Bernanke tried to refinance a third time but couldn’t, he told a recent conference. “The housing area is one area where regulation has not yet got it right,” he said. “I think the tightness of mortgage credit, lending is still probably excessive.”
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