Last week, the number of people filing initial claims for state unemployment dropped by 20,000. As a result, benefits dropped to a seasonally adjusted 512,000. This drop in filings was the first in the past two weeks, and it is the lowest level of initial claims seen since early January.

That said, initial jobless claims have come in atop 500,000 for the past 51 weeks. In addition, the four-week average of claims dropped 3,000 to 523,700. This total is the lowest since the beginning of the year. Expectations called for initial jobless claims to drop to 520,000 last week, so it may be time to sound the rally bell.

Sorry to say that the jobs report for October is bleak. According to ADP National Employment, 203,000 jobs were lost.

Since the recession started, U.S. job losses have risen from 7.6 million to 15 million.

Here are the numbers by sectors:

It's official: the holiday season is here, marking the beginning of the race to the end of the year. It's also time for another FOMC interest rate decision, as well as for another look at the employment situation, perhaps the most dreaded measure of the economic recovery in the U.S. This week will bring the Challenger job cut announcements for October on Wednesday, initial jobless claims for last week and the Monster Employment Index for October on Thursday, and the employment numbers for October on Friday.

The earnings season rolls on this week as well, and analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting good showings from the reports of Boston Beer Company Inc. (NYSE: SAM), DirecTV Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DTV), Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE: SLE), Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX), and Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI).

CNNMoney reports that after $150 billion in stimulus spending, tens of thousands of states, cities, and private companies have saved or created 650,000 jobs. At $230,769 per job, is that worth it?

The answer depends on whose side you're on. Those who want the president to fail are not thrilled, those who want to work and/or want him to succeed can feel some satisfaction.

The pundits on CNBC get all giggly when we lose "only" 550,000 jobs -- a true sign of the times. Uber analyst Meredith Whitney, one of the few people on Wall Street who has been worth listening to during the past three years, is forecasting 13% unemployment in 2010 or 2011.

Officially, unemployment currently stands at 9.8%. But if you add in part-time workers wanting more work and the people who are so discouraged they have stopped looking, the number is a shocking 20%.

Since the stock market bottomed in March of this year, it has been firing on all cylinders -- except for those in the auto industry who manufacture the most cylinders of course. This year has not been kind to them.

For months, many have been surprised at the rapid rise, given the level of unemployment. During this same period, Wall Streeters have been dancing up and down, looking forward to more bonuses.

As the number of unemployed has climbed and the period of same has lengthened, many have wondered how business could be improving during a time when the consumer (those still left) has transformed from spender to saver.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the relentless ascent can only point to a belief that Congress will put jobs on the front burner.

Washington's listening. I think that Washington has had its fill of health care talk and is anxious to focus on jobs. President Obama wants to dither now with carbon capture, content that the stimulus plan, however bogus it was, is doing the job. But Congress senses that they are 13 months from a debacle and they are going to bring employment to the front burner.

That's what I think the market is saying. When I spoke to Dan DiMicco last night, the CEO from Nucor (NUE) (Cramer's Take), he showed devastating evidence of the real unemployment, now at about 18%, and the lack of job creation coming out of this recession compared to the last four recessions.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says stocks connected to the sector will take it on the chin if the housing index falls further.

A perusal of the charts this weekend shows something surprising: The weakest group out there has been the homebuilders for several weeks now. KB Home (NYSE: KBH) (Cramer's Take), D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) (Cramer's Take), Lennar (NYSE: LEN) (Cramer's Take), and Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) (Cramer's Take) have simply been a horror show. What's going on here? How can these stocks be so dangerous when mortgage rates have crashed through 5%, the level that every banker I talk to says mortgages jump off the table and refinancings rush to be done.

What's going on? This group's tracking more than just mortgage rates. It's tracking employment and news flow and both are terrible.

The Labor Department reported that initial claims for unemployment rose to 551,000 from 534,000 in the previous week, much more than the 5,000 economists had expected. The number remaining on the rolls fell by 70,000 to 6.09 million, but this statistic likely is unreliable because of all the people who have exhausted their benefits.

Congress has added 53 weeks of benefits on top of the the usual 26 weeks. Now with thousands of people having exhausted their benefits, Congress is considering extending benefits for another 13 weeks.

According to the ADP employment report released Wednesday morning, 254,000 provate-sector jobs were lost in September. This was the least since July 2008. In addition, August's number of jobs lost was revised lower to 277,000 from the originally reported 298,000.

The results led Joel Prakken from Macroeconomic Advisers to note that "Employment losses have diminished significantly over the last two quarters," a fact that can't really be argued with. That said, there are still 254,000 Americans who lost their job in September and 277,000 who were left unemployed in August. Yes, there are less people losing jobs, but the monthly numbers will continue to add up until new jobs are created.

Autumn has arrived and the quarter winds down this week. The Dow has been inching toward 10,000 for a while now, though it closed lower in the past three sessions. Can it make it to 10,000 for the start of the third quarter? If so, what will push it higher? If not, what will drag it down further?

• Monday is Yom Kippur, the most solemn of the Jewish holidays; trading likely will be lighter than usual. In the evening, the FDIC meets to discuss how to rebuild the Bank Deposit Insurance Fund.
• Tuesday, the Consumer Confidence Index for September is due and the SEC holds a public meeting to consider more short sale actions.

Lincoln, Neb., is the best place in the country for job-hunters. A new survey by headhunting firm Manpower (NYSE: MAN) reports that 21% of employers there plan to add employees in the next quarter, with only 4% looking to cut. That 17% spread (which Manpower calls the "net employment outlook") is tops in the United States.

Flint, Mich., on the other hand, is at the other end of the spectrum: 26% of employers are planning to chop jobs, while only 9% are forecasting new positions.

We got a bit of surprising news today, hearing that new jobless claims fell to 530,000 last week.

Going into today's announcement from the Department of Labor, analysts had been expecting to see an increase of 5,000 new jobless claims last week. This marks the third week in a row that we have seen new jobless claims fall.

Recently we have been hearing more and more reports that the recession is nearing its end, but these news stories are going to do little to ease the minds of large numbers of people that have have lost, or are in fear of losing their jobs.

August was yet another tough month for jobs, as 42 states in the nation reported job losses during the month. That number is up from 29 states in July.

It appears that the House may be ready to extend unemployment benefits for another 13 weeks.

On Wednesday, September 23, Congress will consider legislation to add 13 weeks to unemployment benefits in what are termed "high-unemployment states." In order to be considered a high-unemployment state, the unemployment rate must be greater than 8.5%. With unemployment at record highs nationwide, this status includes 26 states and the District of Columbia. What about the other 24 states? The unemployed workers there could qualify if their state is expected to hit 8.5% unemployed or it meets other criteria.