The jobless rate unexpectedly tumbled to 8.6% in November from 9% in October. That's the lowest since March 2009. But more than half of the decline was due to the 315,000 people who dropped out of the labor force.November's net payroll gain of 120,000 and the private-sector gain of 140,000 just missed analysts' expectations. But September and October employment was revised up by 72,000.The separate household survey, the basis for the unemployment rate, showed 278,000 more jobs, the fourth straight solid monthly gain.The economy seems to be coming out of a slow patch, said John Canally, economist and investment strategist for LPL Financial.The retail sector added 49,800 jobs, likely reflecting unusually strong seasonal hiring that won't last past the holidays. But they still represent paychecks that will be spent, leading to more revenue and maybe new hires for some companies, says Jerry Webman, chief economist at OppenheimerFunds. [Read the full article]

French President Nicolas Sarkozy greets German Chancellor Angela Merkel prior to their meeting Monday at the Elysee Palace in Paris, where the... View Enlarged ImageGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday moved closer to a euro zone that requires members to ask for permission rather than just beg for forgiveness.But the European Union treaty changes they proposed would take months, at best, to ratify while a sweeping late-day credit warning by Standard & Poor's shows that market fears can spike in hours, or even minutes. [Read the full article]

Years of managing market expectations and fears would follow, along with long-term painful austerity measures and other reforms to keep countries on the path to fiscal discipline.Other schemes to create European financial firepower got murkier Tuesday. Standard & Poor's put the European rescue fund on alert for a downgrade, following the ratings agency's negative outlook Monday on 15 of the 17 euro zone nations. That would make borrowing for the European Financial Stability Facility costlier. A more-limited EFSF means greater expectations of ECB action.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in Europe, backed a continued role for the International Monetary Fund but denied that the Federal Reserve would make huge loans to it.That leaves the ECB, which is charged with controlling inflation and barred from financing government debt. (The ECB has been buying sovereign bonds on the secondary market). [Read the full article]

The fast-rising nation already owns about 600 billion euros ($798 billion) in euro zone debt, but much of that hails from before the crisis. It's clear that China's response is falling far short of Europe's high hopes."The chances of China being a significant and direct contributor to Europe beyond what they're already doing is very, very low," said Nicholas Lardy, an economist and China hand at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C.A Chinese paramilitary policeman stands on duty in front of the European Union flag outside the office of the EU delegation to China in Beijing on... View Enlarged ImageClyde Prestowitz, a former Reagan administration trade negotiator, said, "If the Germans aren't willing to step up to the plate, why should the Chinese?"European Union leaders meet Friday to try to agree on yet another crisis solution. [Read the full article]