And Halloween is Still 28 Days Away!

The worst employment numbers in five years. That's the grim news from CNN as the new figures are out this morning.

There was a net loss of 159,000 jobs in September, the ninth straight month the U.S. economy has lost jobs. The August job loss was revised to 73,000 jobs, taking year-to-date job losses to 760,000.

"This marks a clear downshift in the economy," said Robert Dye, senior economist with PNC Financial Services Group.

That's even worse than analysts expected, as they were looking for a loss of 101,000 jobs last month. Retailers shed 40,000 jobs last month - which does not bode well for the holiday shopping season. The private sector has lost nearly a million jobs since December.

Only government and education and health services posted job gains. Government added 9,000 jobs while education and health services added 25,000 jobs.

Experts say these new numbers signal a further weakening of the economy and a recession that should last until Spring of 2009.