Initial jobless claims dipped below the 400,000 mark last week, signaling that the odds of a new recession aren’t rising and may very well be falling. New claims for unemployment benefits dipped to a seasonally adjusted 397,000 last week. That’s the lowest since touching 395,000 for the week through September 24. Yes, we’ve seen this movie before only to get burned with letting optimism carry us away. But a bit of good news never hurts these days and so we’ll take a bit of statistical sunshine wherever (and whenever) we can get it.
Daily Archives: November 3, 2011
Abnormal Expectations
The Federal Reserve yesterday told us what we already suspected was coming. Economic growth will remain sluggish, according to the Fed’s new core projection. Real GDP for all of 2011 will rise by 1.6% to 1.7%, the central bank predicts, down from its June estimate of 2.7% to 2.9%. Next year’s real GDP is expected to deliver slightly better results in the 2.5% to 2.9% range, but that estimate has also been trimmed from June’s 3.3% to 3.7% guess.