Jobless claims are at an all time high. Nevertheless, the number of new jobless claims got a small reprieve just lately. The last six months are somewhat dismal for employment, though temporary boosts were provided by seasonal employment around the holidays and also the United States census. Good news is better than bad news. Housing, the other area that is bad off, is nevertheless within the basement. The news is more a Pyrrhic victory than anything else. Unemployment has held steadily since November of last year. The news got stock markets to climb ever so slightly.
Brand new cases fall somewhat
A drop was recorded in the number of brand new cases for unemployment benefits by the Department of Labor. Seasonally adjusted, there were 473,000 unemployed claims. Nevertheless, that number is down by 31,000 over the last week. A drop in new unemployment claims is encouraging, however the average of the last four weeks is still 486,750, the highest levels since November 2009, as outlined by Forbes. That said, winter jobless claims have to be taken with a grain of salt, as holiday seasonal employment provides a slight spike for the busiest part of the retail year. There was also some temporary other employment. The Census was taken this year.
Stock markets get a boost
The news of lower jobless claims led to an uptick in the stock market, according to the Wall Street Journal. The boost wasn’t much to boast of though. The biggest gain was .3 percent for Standard and Poor’s. The Nasdaq climbed only .2 percent, and the Dow Jones managed a paltry .1 percent gain. However, the big news is less the fall in unemployment cases, but the activity concerning 3Par and Dell, as Dell has acquired the data storage company. A bidding war between Dell and Hewlett-Packard for 3 Par has been the huge story on Wall Street over the last week, after last week’s rampant coverage of Potash Corp.
The improvement is actually slight
This was not a radical decrease in unemployment. You will find few indicators it is decreasing by much. Fewer employers are presently hiring. To make matters worse, it is estimated that 10 percent of homeowners may face foreclosure. The real estate market is completely within the tank.
Additional reading
Forbes
forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/08/26/real-estate-industrials-us-economy_7879865.html
Wall Street Journal
online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100826-709681.html
