Top Takes From RealMoney

The RealMoney contributors are in the business of trading and investing all day on the basis of ongoing news flow. Below, we offer the top five ideas that RealMoney contributors posted today and how they played those ideas.

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1. Continuing Unemployment Claims

By Robert Marcin
1:42 p.m. EDT

Since I believe that the economic recovery is highly dependent on a recovery in employment conditions, I keep an eye out for the continuing claims data. Since the recession began, multiple jobless benefits programs have been added to the standard federal benefits program. One must add three programs to get the proper number of jobless claimants.

Continuing Claims, Extended Benefits and EUC 2008 Source: Department of Labor; Bureau of Labor; Defiance Asset Management

Despite the tick down in the standard program, the supplemental programs have been growing rapidly. There are now almost 10 million workers receiving unemployment compensation and the "green shoot" in the standard data doesn't matter in the whole.

No positions.

2. TCF Financial CEO Speaks Out

By Tim Melvin
1:12 p.m. EDT

Bill Cooper of TCF Financial(TCB Quote) continues to impress me. He is the kind of CEO I want to see running the nations financial institutions. He was just on TV criticizing the TARP program and related stimulus programs. He basically said he felt force to take the TARP money or be labeled as a weak bank. He also said that the system was taking money form the strong institutions to give to bailout the unhealthy ones.