The Financial Landscape: Are the Unemployed Against Their Benefits?

Updated

A roundup of news from around the world of finance:



• The New York Times has found some unemployed people to argue against an extension of jobless benefits: "In a recent survey of the unemployed by Rutgers University, more than one in four respondents was opposed to renewing the current extended unemployment benefits. Three out of five said recipients should be required to take training courses." Says one out-of-work man: "I don't want the federal government giving me an incentive not to work, period... My personal opinion is, you're supposed to go find work, and if you can't find it in the business that you were once in, be it a C.E.O. or a street sweeper, you have to find employment and your lifestyle has to change, so be it."

• U.S. stocks were up after Labor Department numbers "showed employers added more payrolls than forecast in September." Payroll increases were revised up for August and July as well. Later in the day, the gains faded on European downgrades.

• Census Bureau data show the biggest decline in home ownership since the Great Depression.

• Speaking after the announcement of some Bernanke-style quantitative easing, the governor of the Bank of England says the world is facing the worst financial crisis in history.

• Finally Bloomberg reports that "global investors" favor Mitt Romney over all other presidential candidates, although they are "cool to the Republican field in general." The numbers are close: out of Republican contenders, Romney gets the nod from 1 in 5 investors, and he beats Obama 37% to 34%. (Among U.S. investors, Romney beats Obama 60% to 16%.)

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