Labor/Economy

The Congressional Budget Office—which, despite the name, Congress is under no obligation to listen to—reported on Thursday on the “economic effects of reducing fiscal tightening.”

Bankruptcy cases filed in federal courts for fiscal year 2012, which is the 12-month period ending September 30, 2012, totaled 1,261,140, down 14 percent from the 1,467,221 bankruptcy cases filed in FY 2011, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Tuesday might have been Election Day, but for the economy and its indicators, it was just another day.

Economic activity in the U.S. non-manufacturing sector grew in October for the 34th consecutive month, according to the latest Non-Manufacturing ISM Report On Business, which was released on Monday.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ October employment numbers noted that a fairly wide variety of businesses were doing some net hiring during the month.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, despite speculation involving hurricane-related delays, did indeed report the monthly employment numbers on Friday, as scheduled. The result: the U.S. economy created 171,000 jobs in October, more-or-less as expected. The unemployment rate ticked up a bit, to 7.9 percent.

Wall Street was back in business again on Wednesday, despite crippled infrastructure in the equities markets’ hometown.