Jobless claims are at an all time high. Nevertheless, the number of new jobless claims got a small reprieve just lately. The common theme of employment has been of becalmed waters, though a slight reprieve was thanks to the census and seasonal hires for the holiday retail season. The housing market is still in the basement; however some good news about employment is a welcome change. That said, it isn’t cause to celebrate as unemployment is as bad as it has ever been, having held since November of 2009. The news made Wall Street happy, as markets climbed ever so slightly when the news broke.
Modest decrease in new unemployed cases
There was a reduction in brand new unemployed claims for unemployment benefits, says the Department of Labor. Seasonally adjusted, there were 473,000 jobless cases. Nevertheless, that number is down by 31,000 over the last week. The past four weeks, as outlined by Forbes, average out to jobless claims of 486,750, which are the highest since November 2009. Nevertheless, the drop in unemployment claims in winter was due to seasonal employment only, as Thanksgiving through Christmas are what the entire retail year revolves around. There was also some temporary other employment. The Census was taken this year.
Stock exchange offered a lift
The new unemployed claims report provided, according to the Wall Street Journal, just a little boost to stock markets. The largest increase was .3 percent for Standard and Poor’s, a barely mentionable gain. Nasdaq climbed a staggering .2 percent. The Dow Jones needs to put Prozac within the drinking fountains, as the Dow only climbed .1 percent. The large news on Wall Street is really the Dell acquisition, though others are attempting to stop it, of data storage business 3Par. There’s a big bidding war going on, and it is even bigger news than the Potash saga. Hewlett Packard and Dell are fighting it out for 3Par, and it is causing a huge firestorm of coverage.
To call the development modest could be understated
The data released just means a modest drop in unemployment claims. There aren’t that numerous employers hiring. For making matters worse, it is estimated that 10 percent of homeowners may face foreclosure. The real estate market is completely within the tank.
Find more info on this subject
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
