Thursday -- September 25, 2014; Unemployment Claims Surge; Natural Gas Fill Rate Very Good At "97"

Important: I missed this article, posted earlier over at SeekingAlpha. Richard Zeits talks about CLR's most recent corporate presentation. I will come back to this later. A big "thank you" to a reader for alerting the article to me; I had missed it. 

Active rigs:

	9/25/2014	09/25/2013	09/25/2012	09/25/2011	09/25/2010
Active Rigs	193	186	187	195	141

RBN Energy: a must-read for those interested in the Niobrara. Again, these articles will require a subscription or a password later on down the line.

**************************

Jobs Report

Waiting for the spin. Yes, here it is:

The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits increased last week after falling sharply two weeks ago. Despite the rise, the level of applications remains near pre-recession levels, a sign that hiring will likely remain healthy.

So, the number of claims surge, and it's seen as a sign that hiring "will likely remain healthy." Okay.

The four-week average:

Weekly unemployment benefit applications rose 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 293,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. Yet the four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell for the second straight week to 298,500.

The four-week average fell because of the numbers last week, which were never explained.

Reuters, of course, always has the best spin, finding the silver lining in another dismal report:

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose less than expected last week, suggesting an acceleration in job growth in September.

Ah, yes, the ever optimistic "less-than-expected" phrase.

******************************

Waiting For Godot

Watch for the weekly natural gas fill rates. The number is 97. A great number. EIA link here.

******************************

It Passed

Yes, the LA City Council did pass the bill requiring larger hotels to pay a minimum wage of $15.37/hour. Whether or not the affected hotels will cut employees, many of the current employees will lose their jobs.

Hotel managers will see a pool of better qualified applicants and will replace their marginal employees with better qualified employees. At $15.37 the hourly scale now becomes very, very competitive to staying home and living off welfare, or leaving other lower-paying jobs like McDonald's to see work at the hotels paying almost twice what others might be paying.

We won't see it in the news because "numbers" won't be affected.

For day labor and landscaping, it's very possible hotels will contract that work out. Contractors "hire" undocumented laborers on street corners across southern California.

At $15.37/hour the hotel managers will expect more productivity/employee.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/09/25/4180327/applications-for-us-unemployment.htm#storylink=cp

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/09/25/4180327/applications-for-us-unemployment.html#storylink=cpy