Well, that didn’t last long. Today’s weekly update on new jobless claims dashed hopes for the moment that the previous downturn in this series was the start of something new in the way of positive momentum for the labor market. Indeed, the numbers were sufficiently encouraging a week ago to inspire asking: Is the dip real? We now have the first installement on an answer. It’s not necessarily the last word, but so far the response is discouraging.
Daily Archives: July 22, 2010
BERNANKE’S TEPID TESTIMONY
Fed Chairman Bernanke’s Senate testimony yesterday offered little reason to expect that the central bank was about to embark on a bold, new plan of monetary stimulus to offset the recent signs that deflationary pressures were bubbling anew. As Bloomberg News reported, “the Fed chief devoted a bigger portion of his prepared testimony to how the Fed would eventually withdraw its unprecedented credit expansion.”