Claims Above Expectations

From the US Dept. of Labor

In the week ending January 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 399,000, an increase of 24,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 375,000 (up 3k from the previous release). The 4-week moving average was 381,750, an increase of 7,750 from the previous week's revised average of 374,000 (marginally increased from 373k).

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 642,381 in the week ending January 7, an increase of 102,314 from the previous week. There were 773,499 initial claims in the comparable week in 2011.

full release here:Jan 12, 2012 Claims















EUC and extended benefits both fell (-5.8k and -42.5k, respectively).

While somewhat higher than expected, the general trend is still intact and positive (weakly positive in my opinion, but positive nonetheless).  Market will trade the number lower until we get some other data point or Euro-whisper.