jobless claims

Positive Economic Reports Send Market Higher This Morning

October 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Wall StreetA 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...]

Filed Under: Blog, News Tagged With: , , , ,

Investors Shake off Greek Deal and Jobless Claims Numbers

February 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Stocks are trading flat heading into midday trading as investors shrug off reports of a Greek deal and a drop in jobless claims. Reports came in this morning of a possible deal out of Greece. The deal would allow the financially struggling nation to receive a second bailout package.

Closer to home, jobless claims fell 15,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 358,000 according to the Labor Department. This is the second lowest level in almost four years. Many economists had expected claims to go up 3,000. While jobless claims fell, wholesale inventories rose 1% in December. This was higher than the 0.4% gain analysts were expecting.

Earnings season continues to be busy with companies releasing earnings earlier today and a few slated for after the market close.

Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) shares took a hit this morning after the company reported better than expected profits, but guidance saw a 5% decline in 2012 earnings. This decline comes as Pepsico increases advertising and manufacturing costs. The company also announced it will be cutting nearly 9,000 jobs in restructuring. PEP is down 3.84% right now at $64.18.

Credit Suisse Group (NYSE:CS) is seeing a sell off today after the bank posted a quarterly loss. The company reported a net loss of $698 million, analysts were expecting a profit of $471 million. This loss comes as the company took $1.07 billion of charges to speed up cost cutting and dumping of risky assets. CS is down 3.33% at $26.72.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is rallying today after announcing better than expected earnings late yesterday. The company also announced a share repurchase program worth $500 million. Also, many different brokerages increased their target prices for Visa. V is up 4.28% at $112.99.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is down slightly in midday trading despite posting better than expected results and raising their dividend. CSCO is down 0.08% at $20.4141.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) share are up today as Canaccord Genuity raised their price target from $650 to $665. Apple shares are up nearly $40 a share in the past week.

Investors will be eying Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) and LinkedIn Corporation (NASDAQ:LNKD) as well as other companies after the market close when they report earnings.

Filed Under: Blog, News, Stocks Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Jobless Claims and Durable Goods Orders Jump

January 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

New claims for unemployment rose last week to 377,000, up from last week’s nearly four-year low. Jobless applications have been on a downward trend over the past few months with the four week average at 377,500. Any number below 375,000 is seen as a signal that hiring is good enough to lower the unemployment rate.

The economy has added at least 100,000 jobs for six straight months now and the unemployment rate has dropped to 8.5%. Economists are expecting job gains of 160,000 a month in 2012. Many economic indicators including the jobs market showed improvement in late 2011. Factory output jumped in December and consumer confidence and spending rose. Consumer spending usually increases though as Black Friday and holiday shopping sends consumers to the stores.

Growth could slow down though as many economist believe that Europe falling into a recession is a forgone conclusion because of its debt crisis.

In other news, durable goods orders jumped 3% in December. “There is more horsepower to this economy than most believe,” said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University, Channel Islands. “The stars are aligned right for a meaningful economic recovery.”

Stocks have given up most of their gains this morning as the Dow is positive, but the Nasdaq and S&P have turned negative.

Filed Under: Blog, News Tagged With: , , ,

Jobless Claims Drop Again, GDP Revised Lower

December 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

New claims for unemployment hit a 3 year low last week, suggesting that the economy is beginning to gain momentum despite third quarter growth being revised down. Initial claims for unemployment benefits dropped 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 364,000 last week. Last week’s drop in unemployment benefits claims is the third straight weekly drop and is the lowest since April 2008.

“The employment situation continues to show strong signs of a recovery and goes against the grain of what people felt four months ago,” said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York.

The jobs data helped shift the focus away from a separate report from the Commerce Department showing GDP grew by 1.8% in the third quarter. GDP was previously reported to have grown by 2%, but saw healthcare spending drop sharply in the third quarter.

Despite being revised lower, the GDP for the third quarter was up from the 1.3% growth seen in the second quarter.

Consumer spending was revised to 1.7% from 2.3% because of adjustments to healthcare services, especially those in nonprofit hospitals. Durable goods saw an upward revision to 5.7% from 5.5%. Business inventories dropped less than expected with a $2 billion drop versus an estimated $8.5 billion. If you take out inventories, the economy grew by an adjusted 3.2%, down from 3.6%.

Overall the market is reacting positively to the jobs data and opened up slightly higher this morning. As of 9:50 am EST, the Dow is up 40 points, the Nasdaq is up 17 points and the S&P is up 6 points. Expect volume to be light today as the holiday weekend approaches.

Filed Under: Blog, News Tagged With: , , ,

U.S. Jobless Claims Continue A Decline

December 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Labor Department reports in the week ending December 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 381,000, a decrease of 23,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 404,000. The 4-week moving average was 393,250, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 396,250.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 26 was 3,583,000, a decrease of 174,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,757,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,667,250, a decrease of 20,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,687,750.

The Labor Department reported the states with the highest unemployment rates for the week ending November 19, were Alaska, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.

The drop in claims last week pulled them back below the 400,000 level usually associated with improving labor market conditions. Unemployment claims were the latest data to suggest an acceleration in economic growth in the current quarter after output expanded at a 2.0% annual rate in the July-September period.

The number of Americans on emergency unemployment benefits declined 178,610 to 2.79 million in the week ended November 19, the latest week for which data is available.

A total of 6.57 million people were claiming unemployment benefits during that period under all programs, down 431,397 from the prior week.

Filed Under: Blog, News Tagged With: ,

Weekly Jobless Claims Rise Over 400,000

December 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Labor Department reported today that nn the week ending November 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 402,000, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 396,000. The 4-week moving average was 395,750, an increase of 500 from the previous week’s revised average of 395,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent for the week ending November 19, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 19 was 3,740,000, an increase of 35,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,705,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,683,250, an increase of 8,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,675,000.

The states reporting the highest number of new claims were Alaska, Oregon, and California, along with the northeastern states states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

A Labor Department official said there was nothing unusual in the data, although government statisticians had to estimate claims data for Alaska and Washington DC. Initial claims below the 400,000 mark are normally seen as pointing to some healing in the jobs market.

A total of 7.01 million people claimed unemployment benefits under all programs during the week ending Nov 12, up 276,832 from the prior week.

Filed Under: Blog, News Tagged With: , ,

Jobless Claims Fall To Lowest Level Since April

November 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

New claims for unemployment benefits in the United States declined for the second straight week to the lowest level seen since April.

The Labor Department is reporting initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 390,000 in the week ended November 5, slightly below the 400,000 that analysts polled by Reuters had expected. The government revised its estimate for claims during the prior week to 400,000 from 397,000.

The Labor Department reported the number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid fell 92,000 in the week ended October 29 to 3.615 million. That was the steepest drop since February, and the lowest level since the week ended September 20, 2008. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, fell to 400,000 from 405,250 the prior week, which was revised up from the previously reported 404,500.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending October 22 was 6,835,604, an increase of 51,990 from the previous week.

The states with the largest increases in initial claims for the week included Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon, Minnesota, and Florida.

A Labor Department official said a freak fall snowstorm that hammered the Northeast U.S. and kept many people housebound, did not affect initial jobless claims.

The downward trend in applications suggests businesses are laying off fewer workers. Still, applications need to drop dramatically to signal sustained job gains. The unemployment rate has been stuck above 9% for more than two years. The Federal Reserve said last week that it is not expected to fall significantly through the end of next year.

Filed Under: Blog, News Tagged With: , ,
Real Time Web Analytics