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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NOW who wrote (8544)	7/1/2004 12:15:33 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Baltic Dry falls off the cliff quote.bloomberg.com

To: NOW who wrote (8544)	7/1/2004 9:37:55 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Weekly U.S. initial jobless claims inch higher - Thursday, July 1, 2004 1:10:18 PM WASHINGTON (AFX) -- First-time claims for state unemployment benefits increased for the third straight week, rising 1,000 to 351,000 in the week ended June 26, the Labor Department reported Thursday The key four-week moving average of seasonally adjusted new claims increased by 2,500 to 347,000, marking the highest level in 10 weeks. The four-week average smoothes out weekly distortions caused by one-time events such as extreme weather or holidays. Economists had been expecting the one-week number to fall to 340,000 with the four-week average seen remaining close to 344,000, according to a survey conducted by CBS MarketWatch The number of workers collecting the state benefits rose by 13,000 to 2.966 million in the week ended June 19. The four-week average of continuing claims slipped to 2.92 million, the lowest in three years The insured unemployment rate rose to 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent the previous week First-time claims have drifted higher during the past two months after a steady decline over the previous year. Initial claims are at a level that's consistent with solid job growth of 150,000 to 250,000 per month, economists say. Yet firms are still quick to lay off unneeded workers The claims figures come one day before the Labor Department reports on the nation's employment growth for June. Economists expect nonfarm payrolls to rise about 240,000, close to the 248,000 gained in May. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at 5.6 percent. See On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee raised its overnight lending rate for the first time in four years, citing the improvement in the labor market that's added 1.4 million jobs since August. Still, the FOMC maintained its assessment that the risks to growth remained balanced between strength and weakness While the increase in the initial claims figures indicates more layoffs, the decline in the continuing claims figures could be a sign of increased hiring. Or, it could merely mean that workers are exhausting their benefits before finding work. It's likely a combination of the two factors Long-term unemployment has been particularly insidious during this business cycle. In May, 1.8 million, or 21.9 percent, of the 8.2 million workers classified as unemployed had been out of work longer than six months. The average duration of unemployment remained high at 20 weeks Not all unemployed workers are eligible for jobless benefits fxstreet.com