Five years into the recovery, the American economy continues to look OK, but not great. We finally dropped below 6.0 percent unemployment in September, after it had peaked in 2010 at 10.0 percent. Consequently, unemployment has fallen 41 percent from its peak.
Our unemployment situation isn't where we want it to be, but things could be worse. Take a look at the rest of the world. The Eurozone unemployment rate currently stands at 11.5 percent, down just a smidgen from its peak at 11.9 percent during the last recession. The unemployment rate in Europe has fallen only 3 percent from its peak.
Not surprisingly, European stocks continue to suffer as well. We noted that the Russell 1000 small-cap index had dipped into correction territory last week, losing 10 percent of its value off its recent peak. The MSCI EMU index of European stocks has been even worse lately - it has dropped more than 15 percent since peaking in June.
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