Jobless Rate Stays at 9.1%

Payrolls climbed by 103,000 after a revised 57,000 increase the prior month, Labor Department data showed today in Washington. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey called for a rise of 60,000. The gain reflected the return to work of 45,000 telecommunications employees. The jobless rate held at 9.1 percent. Hours and earnings increased.

It’s been a tough year for the stock market — and an absolutely brutal one for mutual fund investors. The wild swings in August were particularly unnerving: Investors pulled $30 billion from U.S. stock mutual funds in the week ended Aug. 10, amid the biggest flight since a month after the failure of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. For the seven months through July, net withdrawals totaled $17.8 billion, following outflows of $280 billion from 2008 through last year, according to the Investment Company Institute. All of which confirms a long-term trend: Investors are fed up with poor returns and volatility.

International regulators known as the "troika" are in a “game of chicken” with Greece right now, forcing the struggling nation to prioritize payments, Kyle Bass, managing partner of Hayman Capital, told CNBC Wednesday. The troika includes the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union. “They are forcing Greece to almost internally default and figure out who they are going to pay, and who they are not going to pay,” said Bass.

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits rose less than expected last week, according to a government report on Thursday that hinted at an improvement in labor market conditions. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits climbed 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 401,000, the Labor Department said, from a revised 395,000 the prior week. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 410,000 from the previously reported 391,000.