The Labor Department says the unemployment rate stayed at 7.8 percent last month. November's rate was revised higher from an initially reported 7.7 percent.

Robust hiring in manufacturing and construction fueled the gains. Construction added 30,000 jobs, the most in 15 months. That likely reflects additional hiring needed to rebuild after Superstorm Sandy and also solid gains in home building that have contributed to a housing recovery.

Manufacturing gained 25,000, the most in nine months.

Even with the gains, hiring is far from accelerating. Employers added an average of 153,000 jobs a month last year, matching the monthly average in 2011.

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The ADP report is seen as a preview of tomorrow's number from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Sectorwise, jobs in "financial activities" climbed by 14,000 and construction jobs jumped by 39,000, potentially a sign that the housing market is recovering.

On the downside, 187,000 of the new jobs were in the service sector while only 28,000 were what ADP categorizes as "goods producing." Manufacturing positions fell by 11,000. This is relevant because, in very general terms, manufacturing jobs tend to pay better than those in the service sector.

Medium-sized businesses accounted for 102,000 jobs with large companies adding 87,000 and small businesses adding 25,000.

This is a strong improvement over November's ADP report which showed an increase of 148,000 jobs revised up from 118,000.

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After climbing in the first three quarters of this year, the Dow dropped in the fourth quarter for the firt time since 2008. Despite ongoing concerns over the fiscal cliff, the Dow climbed 166 points today, its best ever showing on New Years Eve. The broader S&P 500 index had its best New Year's Eve since 1974.

WSJ:

The S&P 500 and [technology heavy] Nasdaq both rose for the eighth year in the past 10, after slipping last year. The S&P stands 111% above its 2009 low, and the Nasdaq is 138% above its.

These astounding gains show that the great recession was a once in a lifetime buying opportunity for those who still had faith in the markets (or money to invest).

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Speaking before an appreciative audience his tart speech lightly mocked Congress and emphasized that any deal would include tax hikes on the rich and some types of spending cuts.

Watch (The speech begins at the 49 minute mark.):

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President Barack Obama flew back to Washington from Hawaii after telephoning congressional leaders from his Christmas vacation perch. Once back, he set up a meeting with leaders of both parties at the White House late Friday to make a fresh attempt to find a solution before Monday night's deadline.

A look at why it's so hard for Republicans and Democrats to compromise on urgent matters of taxes and spending, and what happens if they fail to meet their deadline:

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NEW YEAR'S HEADACHE

Partly by fate, partly by design, some scary fiscal forces come together at the start of 2013 unless Congress and Obama act to stop them. They include:

— Some $536 billion in tax increases, touching nearly all Americans, because various federal tax cuts and breaks expire at year's end.

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Aides to Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell presented the Social Security proposal, which included a method of calculating benefits with inflation. The plan would lower cost of living increases for Social Security recipients. Democrats were swift to reject the offer.

A Democratic aide told ABC News that the proposal was a "poisoned pill" in the current negotiations. However, it should be noted that President Obama has suggested a similar proposal within the context of negotiations on a broad deficit-reduction deal. Such a measure had been taken off the table in discussions over a scaled-back, short-term agreement.

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Amid a spate of Washington bashing, the president said Senate leaders Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are working on a bipartisan deal to pass the Senate. If the Senators cannot accomplish this, the president said he has asked Reid to push for an up or down vote on a bill that would not raise taxes on middle-class families and would extend unemployment benefits.

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While Pelosi described the meeting as "candid and constructive," little sense was given about concrete progress on the unlikely task of reaching a palatable deal.

According to Bloomberg News, President Obama "is seeking an up-or-down vote on his proposal to extend tax cuts for annual income up to $250,000, absent a counteroffer from congressional leaders" -- which basically means that if no counteroffer is put forward that is mutually agreeable, the president will seek a vote on his proposal that everyone must take part in and that cannot be procedurally evaded -- which doesn't sound wildly desperate at all.

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The scaled-back offer Obama plans to make to Republican congressional leaders includes renewing George W. Bush-era tax cuts for middle-class earners, most likely for those making $400,000 and below, according to a Senate aide close to the talks. Both aides spoke on condition of anonymity.

The plan would extend unemployment insurance benefits set to expire at the end of the year, prevent a cut in Medicare reimbursements to doctors and head off an expansion of the alternative minimum tax, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The plan would delay or replace part of scheduled federal spending cuts, most likely the defense portion, the aide said.

The article quotes Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) saying yesterday that he anticipated a deal but is not optimistic about its prospects. “It’s feeling very much like an optical meeting, not a substantive meeting,” he said.

For the Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) still favors a deal that would raise taxes on households earning more than $250,000.

Meanwhile, John Harwood of CNBC tweets from the other side:

[embedtweet id="284688535846518784"]

In other words, this could go on indefinitely.

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On "dark pools," large block trades between institutions that are conducted outside the market and thus invisible to the public until they are completed:

While I have always been an advocate of electronic trading due to the efficiency the lower costs they bring o the markets, I am nit (sic) a fan of the lack of transparency the DARK POOLS create.

It is important to examine why there has been this growing interest in the use of dark pools. Markets have always focused on the speed with which information becomes available. Of course this information can be composed of various types.

It could be corporate developments like earnings or mergers or it can be information regarding the placements of buy and sell orders and who is placing these orders. It is the latter information that has created the interest in the dark pools.

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The buyer, IntercontinentalExchange, a 12-year-old exchange that deals in investing contracts known as futures, said Thursday that little would change for the trading floor in Manhattan's financial district.

The NYSE dates to 1792, when 24 brokers and merchants traded stocks under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street. But its importance today is mostly symbolic. Most trading is done on computers that match thousands of orders a second.

"The cash equities business in America has effectively been obliterated," said Thomas Caldwell, chairman of Caldwell Securities in Toronto and a shareholder in the New York exchange's parent company, NYSE Euronext.

He said that the jewel of the deal is not the New York exchange but Liffe, a futures exchange founded in London.

"The original New York Stock Exchange, it's got a brand name, it's got recognition, but as a business it's a very small part of this thing," Caldwell said.

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I'm a college graduate in my late 20s.  I graduated a few years ago but I did not find a "good" job after college.  I'm still in the process of making a career change.  I went back to school a few years ago for a certification and I'm currently working as an intern.  I work another part-time job just so I can pay bills.  It may take me a few years to reach solid ground.  For now, I absolutely hate how broke I am and I hate living at home.

Last night, I got in a huge fight with my mother over something others may perceive as trivial.  Basically, she threw away some possessions of mine that I had no intention of throwing away.  It enraged me more than it would have enraged a logical, levelheaded person.  Today, I've been thinking about my life and I realize why I went crazy.  I hate that at my age, I still have to fight with my mom about respecting my things.  I hate that I am furious, but I feel I have no right to be since I still live at home.  

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"Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds," issued by the National Intelligence Council, said Asia would overtake North America and Europe combined — in terms of global economic power — by the year 2030, according to Reuters.

"Meanwhile, the economies of Europe, Japan, and Russia are likely to continue their slow relative declines," the report said.

The report attributed the shifts in global power to economic and political changes triggered by emerging technologies, dwindling resources and population booms over the next few decades, according to Bloomberg.

Analysts isolated four "megatrends" that they said are transforming the world: the end of US global dominance, the rising power of individuals against states, a rising middle class, and water, food and energy shortages, Bloomberg reported.

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Douthat calls for an end to our modern, feminist ways, which he calls "decadent." But I would like to offer a better, more humane solution to the problem of a declining future workforce: Instead of simply flooding the market with babies to buoy the economy, why not invest—with public funds, as a community—in the ones we have to get the same results?

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Consider the example of the Kelley family in Fort Myers, Fla., so determined to sacrifice nothing of their quality of life while in quest for the perfect deal that they showed up in front of the local Best Buy's doors on Monday, equipped with a dinner table.

This is what we call not messing around:

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The greatest failure of the tax system is not that it’s too complicated or inefficient or that there are too many “special-interest loopholes,” as House Speaker John Boehner put it on the day after the election. It's that it doesn't raise enough money and it encourages all sorts of manipulation because of the differential rates for investment income and income from work. These are not things that developed over time, as if by some natural process – they are the product of specific decisions made in 2001 and 2003 by Republican-controlled Congresses that used the budget reconciliation process to avoid any bipartisan compromise.

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It is true that if Congress allows the tax hikes and spending cuts to be fully implemented, the economy will go into a tailspin, with four million people forced out of their jobs. But that won’t happen on January 1st. The impact of both tax hikes and spending cuts take time to accumulate. If Congress acts on taxes early in the year, it can make lower tax rates retroactive to the beginning of the year. Between federal contracts already in place and the time it takes to implement program cuts, budget cuts too will take a while before they slow down the economy. Better for Congress to walk down and back up the slope early in the year than be stampeded into bad decisions.

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It’s reducing the purchasing power of the vast middle class on which job growth depends, and turning the economy into a speculative casino for multimillionaires and billionaires.

It’s also undermining our ability to turn the economy around, as those millionaires and billionaires subsidize politicians who refuse to raise taxes on the wealthy and seek to cut spending critical to the middle class and the poor.

We can reverse this trend.

The first step is to make sure Americans understand what’s occurred, why it’s occurred, and what must be done.

And one of the best means of doing so is through film.

That’s why I’ve joined a team of talented filmmakers to produce a new documentary called “Inequality for All.”

We need your help. Please watch the following short video, and do whatever you can.

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Here, the path of least resistance is for congressional Republicans and the President to agree to kick the can down the road – keeping everything as it is (current spending, the Bush tax cut) until a date in the not-too-distant future — say, March 15.

As a sweetener, Republicans will have to agree to lift the debt ceiling again when a vote is needed to do so, probably in late January.

This mini-deal will give the new Congress and the White House time to craft a “grand bargain” on deficit reduction without going over the fiscal cliff.

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