The weekly jobless claims from the U.S. Labor Department showed a decline from the week before.  The weekly claims fell by a 29,000 adjusted figure to 469,000 claims after last week’s figure was moved up to 498,000 versus a prior 496,000.  The 4-week average also fell 3,500 to 470,750.

The big change here is in the army of unemployed measured by the continuing claims.  The figure dropped by 134,000 to 4,500,000 from a revised 4,634,000 a week ago.  This figure is still high yet appears to be a year low.

Weather is playing an issue in these figures.  Some government offices in the Northeast have been closed or were on shorter hours as a result of major snow storms.  Despite Larry Summers trying to prep us for a weak jobs figure on tomorrow’s unemployment report, there is no clear barometer or major change seen from any of this week’s labor data.

JON C. OGG