Jobless Claims Thursday

From the release:

In the week ending Oct. 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 452,000, a decrease of 23,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 475,000 (was 462k). The 4-week moving average was 458,000, a decrease of 4,250 from the previous week's revised average of 462,250. Okay, decreased 23k from a number revised higher by 10k.  Ummm, right.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending Oct. 9 was 4,441,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 4,450,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,478,000, a decrease of 23,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,501,250.

States reported 4,040,113 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Oct. 2, an increase of 152,112 from the prior week. There were 3,428,585 claimants in the comparable week in 2009. EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity. Okay, more folks have fallen onto the Fed's books because they have been unemployed for so long.

Extended Benefits were reported at 1,033,717, up 126,419 from the prior weeks 907,298. See above, but substitute state for Fed.


This is better than expected?  Hardly.  This just helps support the further debasement of the currency (oops, that would be an issue we are chastising China for) I mean QE2.