The Labor Department is just looking like it is not going to be source for any good news.  With the employment and economic situation worsening again, it may be no real surprise.  Today’s data on weekly jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 387,000 but the prior week’s figure of 386,000 was revised higher to 389,000 for the week.  Bloomberg was looking for 383,000 as its consensus figure for this week’s latest jobless claims.

We also saw that the four-week average crept higher by 3,500 to 386,250 now. The army of unemployed, measured by the continuing jobless claims, was effectively unchanged at 3.299 million.

The most recent data from the Federal Reserve, which is not tied in with the Labor Department, was raised to 8.0% to 8.2% from 7.8% to 8.0%. Investors keep hoping for better jobs data but the slowing growth here in the United States is only adding pressure on top of slowing BRIC growth and an outright recession in Europe as the nations deal with the PIIGS and integrity of the Euro.

JON C. OGG