Real Unemployment Rate

Since the we get payroll numbers tomorrow at 08:30, let's talk about two things.

First the unemployment rate that you hear on TV an in the paper and in most places on the internet is called the U-3 Unemployment rate.  Which covers Total people unemployed, as a percent of the civilian labor force (official unemployment rate), as defined by when people are without jobs and they have actively looked for work within the past four weeks. So the U-3 is people out of work who are looking for work.
Ok, not bad but have you ever heard of U-4, U-5 or U-6? let's take a look at those...........

U-4 Total unemployed (U-3 Number) + plus discouraged workers,or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus discouraged workers.

Hmmmmmm..... that sounds like a lot of people.

U-5 Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers(U-4), plus all other persons marginally attached to the labor force, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force,  Or U-4 number +"marginally attached workers", or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.

Wow..... Ok that sounds like more people.......

And the number that we look at instead of the Headline (U-3) number....

U-6 Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, or U-5 + Part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons (those underemployed).

Uhhhh....... we all know tuns of people who are underemployed. this to us is the real number of the work force.
Take a look at the chart above and look at the difference and you will realize why no one talks about the U-6 or the "Real Unemployment" number.

Want to see the real time U-3, U-4, U-5, or U-6, try these links
www.portalseven.com
www.shadowstats.com
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm  - The US Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Enjoy

Best Free Stock Charts

Best Free Charts On The Web

Before you can learn how to trade or do any type of investing for your self you MUST learn to read a chart. The best way to do that is to stare at them, play around them, try and break them. Find your favorite reporting site and customize the carts to you liking, the more comfortable you are with your charts the more comfortable you will be when you trade.  All of these sites are free but may have pay services that we wont discuss here. Every thing we list is for free on all the sites. We will review the paid sites and software in another post down the road.
Check out these sites find one you like, and learn how to use it, if you need help just ask, we can help. you will need to have one you like to go over and review the content here.
Here are some of the best places to find free stock charts on the web.

• FreeStockCharts.com

This is the best sight I’ve found on line for free stock charts. The price and volume information is real time from the BATS exchange for most stocks that trade electronically. This site also provides quotes for Forex Currency pairs real-time with data provided by CMS. Charts are highly customizable and you can display multiple charts and/or time frames on a single page. The charts that we post here will be from this site. It’s truly an awesome resource! They provide all kinds of studies and chart options such as bar, candle stick, line and so many studies I cant count.

• StockCharts.com

This is a great site, its not ass full featured or as user friendly as our first pick but to each their own. I know people that swear by this site and people that hate it. You can customize the charts extensively. But the coolest part, is that you can annotate the charts, by adding text, studies like Fibonacci – (which is an awesome feature), arrows and the like it really is cool! Most of the time when you see a chart here that has drawings on it, it will be from this site.

• FinViz.com

This site is one of my favorites and has a wealth of information from FX to Futures Charts to Stocks and ETF’s. You will see some charts from them on here from time to time but not often I recommend you check them out, their free services are enough for most people, although if you want real time you will have to pay. Some professional traders use their free stock screeners every morning to find trades; it really is a cool site.

• Google.com/finance & Finance.Yahoo.com

Now we move in to the category of the big boys, lots of people swear by these two sites. I hardly use them. The features are all free and the Yahoo site does have a great way to keep track of your portfolio. I may use these sites to find News releases, or earnings calls or things like that but I try to stay away. I know people that swear by them, but I just cant get them customized to my liking. The only thing that I LOVE about them is the options chain quotes on finance.yahoo.com, this I think is the best free part of the Yahoo finance site. I use it all the time.

Wether your a Squawk Swing trader, A Squawk Day Trader, or any other type of investor these links will give you the resources you need to be better.