RJ and Makay

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Banks around the world may slash an additional 100,000 jobs this year, according to Meredith Whitney, chief executive officer of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group LLC.  Whitney shared her views yesterday with radio hosts Tom Keene and Ken Prewitt on the Bloomberg Surveillance show.  Worldwide, banks lost well over 200,000 jobs in 2011, and this year “stands more of a chance to be a repeat” of 2011, she said.

In a surprise setback on the economic front, new orders for long-lasting manufactured goods — durables — fell in February, suggesting some unexpected softness in manufacturing activity and business investment plans. However, recent labor market gains are persisting, as indicated by a decline in new jobless benefit claims last week and in the four-week average for such claims to its lowest level in more than two-and-a-half years.

According to the Commerce Department, durable goods orders fell 0.9% in February after rising 3.6% in January. Economists polled by Reuters had expected durables orders to increase 1.1% last month. Excluding transportation, such orders fell 0.6% after declining 3.0% in January.

When Gallup pollsters recently asked 1,000 Americans to name the biggest problem facing the country, 35% said "unemployment," making joblessness their number one concern for the second straight month. It's also the highest percentage of Americans to give that response in more than a quarter century, since October of 1983.

By contrast, the economy in general ranked second, with 29% of those polled saying it was the most important problem facing the country. Healthcare was third and dissatisfaction with the government, fourth.