Magic number: 400,000
Bloomberg link.
- Weekly jobless claims: down 2,000 to 386,000 -- highest number since January, 2012
- (wow, consensus: 370,000; CNBC said 367,000) -- incredible!)
- Continuing claims: 3.3 million; increased by 26,000
- Four-week moving average which they say is better gauge: increase of 5,000 to 374,750
- Last week revised to 388,000 (last week the number reported was 380,000)
No Easter excuse; no "bad weather" excuse; no "extenuating factors" excuse in early reports but by the end of the day talking heads will have something. Maybe.
And to think, "they" killed Keystone XL. Slow-rolling domestic oil and gas industry; killing the coal industry; EPA asking US Army Corps of Engineers to thoroughly study job-creating programs before approving. Wind industry lost 10,000 jobs. Solar companies declaring bankruptcy; First Solar cuts 30 percent of work force; Europe not economically viable for solar.
I can't wait to see the AP spin on this data. CNBC minced no words on this report. Here is Yahoo/Reuters comment:
"The number suggests that improvement is slowing down," said Subodh Kumar, chief investment strategist at Subodh Kumar & Associates in Toronto.Improvement is slowing down? Okay.
You mean Cramer actually flip flopped again and said the economy is not so great? One day he about wets himself over how great things are looking, and the next day it is Armageddon.
ReplyDeleteCramer is like your ADHD / ADD fun-loving uncle who one takes with a grain of salt.
DeleteAnd yet your tone seems happy that these numbers aren't that good.
DeleteIf there is a "happy" tone in my post it is this:
DeleteFolks have "world views" to help them explain what is going on in the world. In science, these are called hypotheses, which are then tested.
In economics and politics, "world view" is often used in lieu of "hypothesis."
One is happy when data supports one's hypothesis or world view.
My world view is that we have an administration that is more interested in killing jobs than in creating jobs.
In the "emotional arena" I can become teary-eyed thinking of fathers who are unemployed, trying to support a family of two or three young toddlers. I have talked about that more than once. Work defines a man's worth. For women, work (as conventionally defined) is only part of what defines their worth.
In the "rational arena" I am "happy" when data points support my world view or hypothesis. Even if it's bad news.
There is much more to it than that, but hopefully that explains a bit of my thinking and my posting. I am not "happy" by a long shot with the data points; I am happy that my "world view" still seems to be intact.