A better than expected durable goods report and good jobless claims data helped send stocks higher in early trading. Durable goods orders jumped nearly 10% in December, according to the Commerce Department, above the 7.1% rise most economists were expecting.
Weekly jobless claims came in down 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 369,000. This was slightly higher than the 365,000 analysts were expecting. Last week’s figure was revised upward by 4,000. The Labor Department said all states reported data and nothing was unusual about the data. This comes a couple weeks after one large state failed to report their jobless claims numbers, skewing the jobless claims report to the downside for that week. [Read more...]
