Friday Market Head-Fake with Elgin Baylor

Triple digit start for the Dow Today, unemployment is on the mend.  But what about interest rates, my stocks could be overvalued, panic!
The major indexes just finshed up a tad, on a head-fake from the Powers-that-Be.  We raise our glasses to the King of all Head Fakes, the one and only Elgin Baylor.

In an era (1958-72) when the game was played mostly below the rim, the Lakers' immortal could play above it if he wanted to. But, see, the master of the head fake and mesmerizing glide to the hoop could play below it, too. Elegant Elg may be the most underrated player in NBA history.

Dig it.

More on today's head-fake from Mr. Market.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks gave up early gains as investors, seeing a brighter employment picture as a sign of economic strength, worry about higher interest rates.

Major stock indexes edged higher Friday as news that employers cut fewer jobs in November brought expectations that the Federal Reserve could hike rates or remove other supports from the economy sooner than expected.

Treasurys and gold fell as demand for safe-haven investments eased.

The prospects of increased rates lifted the dollar. That, in turn, ate into an early surge in stocks and commodities including oil.

The Labor Department said the economy shed 11,000 jobs last month, the smallest monthly loss since December 2007. That's much better than the 130,000 losses Wall Street economists expected and an improvement from the 111,000 cuts in October.

The unemployment rate fell to 10 percent from 10.2 percent in October, a 26-year high. Economists had expected the rate to remain unchanged.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said orders to U.S. factories posted a surprise jump in October as demand jumped for aircraft and energy. Orders rose 0.6 percent in October, better than the flat reading that economists had expected. It was the sixth increase in seven months.

Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York, said the jobs and factories reports could draw investors into the market who had been skeptical about how well the economy was doing.