Employers in the U.S. added 115,000 workers to the payrolls in December, ending a quarter in which job creation was the slowest in three years, according to a survey of economists before a government report last week.

The figure is the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey and would follow employment gains of 132,000 in the prior month and 79,000 in October. The Labor Department’s report on Jan. 5 is also forecast to show the jobless rate held at 4.5 percent, close to a five-year low.

Job growth in early 2007 may continue to be subdued, keeping a lid on wage gains and limiting how fast consumer spending and the economy will grow. So far, increases in payrolls and incomes have been enough to hold the unemployment rate stable and encourage Americans to keep spending and shopping.

Man investors still cling to a buy-and-hold mentality as a backlash against the day-trading debacle of the New Economy days in the late 1990s, that strategy has been alarmingly ineffective in the past five years.  Now the market experts are wondering if the market is on the cusp of another important shift.  During the past five years, more institutional investors have been employing timing models and sector-rotation strategies to benefit from the short-term upswings in the market, as well as raising their investments in hedge funds, according to market sources.  Buy-and-hold has an old-school charm, a conservative voice that sounds wise when speaking of patience.  But that’s because so many people making their living in finance today came of age professionally in the 1980s and 1990s, says James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, an investment advisor that caters to institutional investors.   The buy-and-hold method works well in a bull market because the entire market has a general upward trend, so a portfolio manager does not have be particularly good at stock picking to post positive results, Paulsen says.  The market was in a bull run from 1982 to 2000, proving all those buy-and-holders right but with the future looking so uncertain a new spin on this old strategy might be called for in my own personal finance.

Oil surges to new highs while the US jobless rate remains steady at 4.6%.

AMD warns second quarter profits will be less than forecasted because of weak chip sales.

According to published reports, Microsoft (MSFT) is getting close to the roll-out stage of its competitor to Apple’s iPod, which will be capable of downloading songs wirelessly, something that current iPod models don’t do.  The Microsoft device is said to be ready to reach retail shelves for the Chistmas season which is usually the highest selling potion of the year for the computer and electronics industries.

The DJIA is set to open at 11,090.67 Monday morning,  the Nasdaq is set to open at 2,130.06 and S&P 500 at 1,265.48.  the Canadian Market the TSX is set to open at 11,631.91.

Have a great and profitable week!