The number of new jobless claims dropped for the very first time in a when. The common theme of employment has been of becalmed waters, though a small 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. However, the news is a nearly Pyrrhic victory, as unemployment has held somewhat steadily since November of 2009. The news made Wall Street happy, as markets climbed ever so slightly when the news broke.
Brand new unemployed claims decrease slightly
A drop was recorded within the quantity of new claims for unemployment benefits by the Department of Labor. The number of jobless claims nevertheless sits, adjusted seasonally, at 473,000, however that number dropped by 31,000 over the last week. That’s encouraging, however the past four weeks average to 486,750. According to Forbes, that’s the highest since November 2009. One must take lower winter unemployment with a grain of salt, though. Winter provides some seasonal employment for retail. The United States of America Census also employed a fair amount of individuals seasonally.
Stock exchange obtain a boost
The new jobless cases report provided, according to the Wall Street Journal, a little boost to stock markets. The largest increase was .3 percent for Standard and Poor’s, a barely mentionable gain. The Dow went up an unbelievable .1 percent, and Nasdaq shot up .2 percent. However, the big news is less the fall in unemployment cases, however the activity concerning 3Par and Dell, as Dell has acquired the data storage business. 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.
Not really close to from the woods
The data released just means a modest fall in unemployment claims. There just aren’t the jobs available anymore, and the economy keeps contracting. Real estate shows few signs of life, and it is believed that up to 10 percent of all homeowners may have foreclosure as a significant possibility in their future.
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
