A few minutes ago MarketWatch published an article under the caption ‘Economic Report’ titled ‘Initial Jobless claims fall to 492,000, U.S. data show.  Almost concurrently, Yahoo News reported an article by Tim Paradis, an AP Business Writer titled ‘Stocks edge higher after drop in jobless claims’.  The titles of both article imply a ‘good economic event’ – the second title more strongly than the first.

In fact, when one carefully reads the title of the MarketWatch article and reads the article itself, it becomes obvious that jobless claims did not drop in the week ended December 27, only the number of new jobless claims made in the week then ended dropped from the new jobless claims in the week ended December 20.  At the same time the detail in the article stated that the:

• number of people collecting benefits rose by 140,000 to 4.51 million in the week ended December 20, the highest level since December, 1982;
• 4 week average of continuing claims grew in the week ended December 20 by 103,750 to 4.42 million, again the highest level since December, 1982;
• insured unemployment rate rost to 3.4% from 3.3% in the prior week, the highest level since November, 1983; and,
• 533,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were lost in November, the most for a single month since 1974.

I would have thought that was all very bad news.  Accordingly, it seems to me the title of the AP article is either ill-conceived, or just plain misleading.

In any event, Paradis attributed an increase of 18 points in the Dow Futures, which had been flat, to this jobless news item.  Assuming his assumption is a good one, which as amazing as that seems it might be, what is there to say except ‘more of the same’ from the Wall Street Sages.

Comments as to what readers think about the foregoing will be appreciated.

The views expressed in this Post are those of the author. They are offered to readers for information and general guidance only. They are neither intended to, nor should be taken to, constitute economic or investment advice. See Legal Disclaimer.

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