The Jobs Report

Remember: the magic number is 400,000.

One of my favorite days of the week: reading the weekly the Reuters jobless claims report.

The Yahoo link: jobless claims rise less than expected. That's good news.

The headline at Reuters: jobless claims point to steady labor market.

Okay.

Jobless claims climbed 4,000 to 367,000.

But, hey, that's good news. The economists expected a rise to 370,000.

And then the boiler plate: "The four-week moving average for new claims, a better measure of labor market trends, was unchanged at 375,000."

Steady as she goes.

Then the obligatory quote: "The trend is still looking fairly stable. The labor market is improving but it is not really gathering direction for better or worse, it is still just plodding along."

Okay, the labor market is "improving," but in the same breath, "it's not really gathering direction...it's just plodding along." I see "steady" (maybe) but I don't see "improving" in that quote.

So, there you have it. Steady.