Jan non-farm payrolls +243K vs +140K exp Unemployment rate +8.3% vs +8.5% exp ISM non-manufacturing 56.8 vs 53.2 exp Factory orders +1.1% vs +1.5% exp Canadian jobs +2.3K vs +22.0K exp Bullard QE3 unlikely absent significant deterioration BBG: Official losses on Greek debt still an open question Greek creditors committee chairs head to Athens Swiss [...]

–House Speaker Boehner: ‘The Clock Is Ticking’ –Need ‘Responsible, Bipartisan’ Payroll Tax-Cut Deal By John Shaw WASHINGTON (MNI) – House Speaker John Boehner admonished Senate Democrats Friday to “get serious” about negotiations on a “responsible, bipartisan” payroll tax cut extension agreement. In a sharply worded statement, Boehner said he is troubled by reports that Senate [...]

My dad had season tickets for the Giants, so I grew in Yankee Stadium freezing my arse off, rooting for Fran Tarkington and Spider Lockhart. That didn’t work out so hot, but by my 20s, the Gints had Lawrence Taylor and began going to the playoffs and finally to the Super Bowl. When I moved [...]

–Congressional Budget Office Says $3T in 10 YR Deficits Are Possible –But CBO Chief Elmendorf Shows Scenario For $11T in Cumulative Deficits –Fed Chairman Bernanke Urges Long-Term Fiscal Discipline; Not Too Soon By John Shaw WASHINGTON (MNI) – Those lawmakers interested in examining the complex choices facing U.S. fiscal policy have a lot of information [...]

Not much of a fall there, still lots of euro shorts to be squeezed. From the CFTC Commitments of Traders report:  JPY +56.7K vs +44.4K GBP -26.2K vs -31.4K AUD +78.0K vs +69.5K NZD +14.8K vs +12.9K CHF -11.2K vs -12.5K CAD -19.4K vs -18.9K

By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MNI) – High on a hill across from Capitol Hill — actually the hills aren’t that high — the data monks toil while out and about the trading trolls take delight in mocking them, especially when the monks cook up some good numbers. And so the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in [...]

Real headline: “Greek, Troika talks taking place in positive climate: official” How warn is it in the room? What did they have for dinner? You know the old adage: buy on burgers, sell on soup Venizelos is expected to brief his euro area counterparts on Saturday, presumably with some real news.

The hawkish comments from Bullard pushed it through some stops.

Bullard (non-voter) spoke to Bloomberg: US unemployment likely to fall to 7.8% this year, 7% by end of 2013 Recent data “surprising on the upside” Fed may need to raise rates before 2014 QE less likely

Risk appetite continues to pick up on hopes for a Greek deal. A Greek government official just spoke to reporters and said talks were going well. No word on whether a deal was ‘very close’ or ‘very, very close’.

Northern Japan is locked in a brutal winter and it’s causing a spike in energy demand. With nearly all of Japan’s nuclear industry off-line it’s straining the energy grid. Nikkei says demand is over 90% of capacity in some places. The forecast is for better weather but there is a risk of rationing or blackouts.

News is out that the CEO of Micron has died. He was paid $8.6m last year and he died flying solo in a single-engine, experimental plane. Shouldn’t a company have rules against that?

WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following statement was issued Friday by the National Federation of Independent Business’ Chief Economist William Dunkelberg: “The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a drop in the unemployment rate this morning. Unfortunately, few of these jobs are being created on Main Street. “For small employers, the net change in employment per firm [...]

US DATA: Jan NFIB survey on jobs: “For small employers, the net change in employment per firm (seasonally adjusted) was zero (0.0) While that’s an increase over December, it’s hardly a net new jobs winner. Seasonally adjusted, 11 percent of the owners added an average of 3.0 workers per firm over the past few months, [...]

That’s correct, if by ‘confidence’ he means ‘government money’. Hopes transaction tax will succeed EU must advance toward economic union Jobs will come when Europe consolidates single market

You know that arcade game whack-a-mole? A mole pops out of a hole, you whack him with a mallet and then it pops out another hole. The present Greek negotiation with both the banks and the EU-IMF is similar. A funding hole opens up in one of the negotiations and they turn to the other [...]

In about two hours, the CFTC will release its weekly positioning data in the Commitments of Traders report. It’s almost a slam dunk that EUR speculative shorts will diminish from a record -171K. The data covers up to the close on Feb 1 but the euro at the same level as it was then, so it should [...]

–Obama To Congress Re Recovery: ‘Don’t Muck It Up’ By Brai Odion-Esene WASHINGTON (MNI) – Bolstered by a surprisingly strong January payrolls report, President Barack Obama Friday said the U.S. economy is growing stronger and urged Capitol Hill to pass legislation that will keep the recovery moving in the right direction. In remarks on the [...]

The risk trade is also getting a boost from a Bloomberg story outlining different ways the ECB and European central banks could participate (ie lose money) in the Greek PMI deal. One idea is to sell the ECB bonds at the price it paid (not the price it’s at now) to the EFSF. The EFSF [...]

Stocks up 1.3% to a session high AUD and CAD at extremes EUR and GBP recovering The co-chairs of the Greek creditors committee are going to Athens this week, Charles Dallara (IIF) and Jean Lemierre (BNP Paribas). It’s boosting optimism that a deal is close.