FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 6 2009 -- Spherion Corporation (NYSE: SFN) - The Spherion Employee Confidence Index increased 2.3 points to 42.7 in January from last month's survey low of 40.4. The Index, which measures workers' confidence in their personal employment situation and optimism in the economic environment, reveals that more workers are confident in their ability to find a new job. In addition, more workers (34 percent) reported that they are likely to look for a job in the next twelve months, up one percentage point from December.

Good morning. The 2-day FOMC meeting begins today and investors have plenty to keep them occupied with another batch of earnings reports and some economic data after the opening bell. [More...]

A recent buy from Ken Kam (ccount/click.php?id=1515) -- based on following the top performers among the 60,000 investors who keep virtual portfolios on his Marketocracy (ccount/click.php?id=1515) site -- is Spherion (quote.htm?sym=sfn) ( NYSE: SFN (quote.htm?sym=sfn)).

Filed under: Industry, Employees, Options

Manpower (NYSE: MAN) volatility up; on employment growth concerns. MAN, an employment services company with 4,400 offices in 73 countries, is recently down $4.51 to $65.34. MAN has a market cap of $5.5 billion with long term debt of $800 million. MAN, Kelly Services (NASDAQ: KELYA), Labor ready (NYSE: LRW) & Spherion (NYSE: SFN) have aggressively sold off over the last week on U.S. human resource and employment services growth concerns. MAN September option implied volatility of 43 is above its 26-week average of 28 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risk.

Labor Ready (NYSE: LRW) volatility Up; on employment growth concerns. LRW, a global temporary staffing provider, has a market cap of $878 million. LRW September option implied volatility of 47 is above its 26-week average of 40 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options-VIX up 3.55 to 25; 10-day average is 22.95.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

 

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