To say the current economic climate has been 'thin on good news' would be an understatement.

But here are two data points that represent definite uppers: first, monthly job losses have declined to about 190,000 -- still large and unacceptable, using any macroeconomic model, but light years away from the 500,000 and 600,000 monthly job losses that characterized the financial crisis' acute stage earlier this year.

Today was one of those up days that started out strong and ended stronger. The gains were on the heels of overseas buying and on the dollar weakness. The dollar weakness trumped Hurricane Ida's downgrade to a tropical storm when it came to higher oil prices.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,227.40 +203.98 (2.04%)
S&P 500 1,093.10 +23.80 (2.23%)
Nasdaq 2,154.06 +41.62 (1.97%)

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Goldman Sachs's (GS) normally reclusive CEO and noted theologian Lloyd Blankfein has been conducting an unprecedented number of interviewers of late to try to bolster the company's image.

Maybe they'd be better off if he crawled back into his shell.

In an interview with London's Sunday Times, Mr. Blankfein explained that Goldman Sachs is "doing God's work."

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the Senate is filled with more-savvy politicians, and the upside for beaten-down names is huge.

Nancy Pelosi has now said her piece. The most unpopular Speaker of the House in the history of Wall Street has gotten her precious health care legislation through the House after ramming through a stimulus package that had far too little infrastructure and far too much pay raise for municipal and state workers, the most powerful interest group in the country.

But this time the Senate sees through it, and the politicians -- despite Pelosi's insistence that Tuesday's election went her way -- know better. There are pages after pages after pages in this bill that look threatening. But here's the rub: This bill's public option, the one that is supposed to be a killer to everything health care, should affect no more than 6 million people over a 10-year period, according to the Congressional Budget Office. In order to get 60 votes in the Senate, even that may prove to be too powerful an option.

Disney (DIS) had high hopes for A Christmas Carol. It was supposed to be an unqualified blockbuster. Unfortunately, the film's first weekend at the box office was nothing short of a disaster.

Too strong? Hardly. According to early estimates at Box Office Mojo, Carol took in little more than $30 million at domestic screenings. It was wasn't supposed to be like this. Carol was supposed to be light-years ahead of the competition. Sony's (SNE) Michael Jackson's This Is It came in second. The Men Who Stare at Goats, distributed by Liberty Capital Group's (LCAPA) Overture Films, was third. And The Fourth Kind, from General Electric's (GE) Universal, is currently ranked, aptly enough, in fourth place. Each of the latter three pictures had a gross of somewhere between $12 million and $14 million. To me, Carol's take didn't seem as disproportionate as it should have been.

Could it be that private-equity buyouts are making a comeback? There are certainly signs of a return. Just last week, TPG and the Canada Pension Plan agreed to shell out $4 billion for IMS Health (RX).

This week, we have another interesting deal: KKR and General Atlantic will buy TASC for $1.65 billion. TASC is the consulting unit of Northrop Grumman (NOC).

Actually, the military giant had little choice but to unload the division because of a conflict of interest. How can you provide unbiased consulting to the U.S. government as well as sell weapons to it?

U.S. stock futures climbed significantly higher Monday morning, pointing to a strong open on Wall Street following gains in overseas stock markets. With little in the way of economics data and earnings, investors mostly are following several potential deal news.

Last week, with mostly encouraging economic data and generally better-than-expected earnings, the Dow reclaimed the 10,000 mark and remained above it despite the unemployment rate reaching 10.2%. It seems for now, the promise of a recovery and a Federal Reserve that's keeping stimulating policies are enough to boost sentiment.

It's never easy to acquire a customer. Yet, when it happens, it's tempting to become lax when it comes to the legal details. And it's true that many contracts do not necessarily need to be in writing.

However, this is no excuse. Having a prepared contract shows your professionalism and seriousness. It's also a way to gain leverage. Keep in mind that the drafter of a contract usually has an edge.

So, when putting together a sales contract, here are some things to keep in mind:

The conventional wisdom is that consumer spending is what drives the U.S. economy. And consumer spending arises out of consumer confidence. Unfortunately, the signals along the road to economic recovery are mixed, what with the rising GDP growth and the dismal unemployment numbers. Its enough to leave investors scratching their heads. What barometers of consumer confidence will the coming week bring?

The TIPP Economic Optimism Index for November is scheduled for Tuesday, and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for November is due out Friday.

After seven months of one of the strongest rallies in history, the stock market is showing signs of faltering. From here on out through the rest of 2009, I believe the advance will shift gears, and instead of recording new highs every month, the trend will tend to flatten.

And as we head into the heart of the fourth quarter, I wouldn't bet on the market making many more new highs this year.

Warrent Buffett, investor extraordinaire, just bought something. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Company (BNI). It cost $26 billion. He already owned part of the railroad, but he wanted it all. Figured it was a great investment. So why should you care?

First, because it's Warren Buffett. While he's made one or two bad investments (see Eastern Airlines (who?) as an example), most of what Mr. Buffett buys increases in value. He's not the second richest man in America because he's lucky. When he buys into an industry, it may be one that most investors should consider.

US Senator Bernie Sanders, independent from Vermont, is known for his straightforward and unbiased positions.

His new legislative proposal is to break up big banks that are deemed "too big to fail." To quote Mr. Sanders: "if an institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. We should break them up so they are no longer in a position to bring down our entire economy."

Today was a surprise considering the news. There was not great economic news to hang on, particularly considering that the 10.2% unemployment was the worst reading since 1983. As the market did not crater and as it went positive throughout the day, it almost felt as though the 10.2% of the officially unemployed don't matter to the economy as everyone keeps noting the 'lagging indicator' effect. Still, stocks held their own for most of the day and where the real direction for the end of the day bells felt uncertain until the end of the day.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,023.19 +17.23 (0.17%)
S&P 500 1,069.30 +2.67 (0.25%)
Nasdaq 2,112.44 +7.12 (0.34%)

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Work smarter not harder. Do more with less. Increase your output. Become more productive.

You've heard all this before, right? What it all means is that layoffs are coming, and the survivors are going to have to take on a hell of a lot more work, with no increase in support, resources or compensation. As cuts come, the survivors fight to survive, and succeeding means that a new benchmark is set. If you can survive without the help you used to have, it's easier to defer hiring for a while.

Being 34% owned by the U.S. government, Citigroup's (NYSE: C) destiny is somewhat murky. Yet, to pay off the loans, this massive financial institution must shrink. To this end, Citigroup has filed a public offering for its Primerica Financial Services. According to the prospectus, the deal is expected to raise $100 million, but it's likely the amount will be much larger.

Primerica certainly has an interesting history. Back in 1977, an aggressive financial service executive, Arthur Williams, started the company, with the focus on providing term insurance to consumers as well as mutual fund products. However, he had an interesting twist on distribution: he used network marketing. Basically, a Primerica agent would get incentives by recruiting new agents. As a result, the company's growth exploded.