Finally Some Good News on Weekly Jobless Claims, Import Prices Too!

The indication is that this last week’s drop was due to seasonal factors, and we would again point to the Fourth of July holiday falling on a Wednesday. The army of unemployed, those making claims for more than a week, is measured with a one week lag and that report was down by 14,000 to 3.3 million.

Elsewhere from the Labor Department’s inflation watch, import prices were down 2.7% month over month due to lower fuel costs.  This was the largest drop in over three years and it was the third consecutive drop. Import prices were down 2.6% from a year ago. 

Today’s numbers sound good on the surface.  Unfortunately they are easy to ignore due to ‘exceptions’ and due to negative headlines elsewhere.

JON C. OGG