Not About Gay Marriage
Economy Paused, Wholesale Prices Drop:

Jobless claims, meanwhile, rose more than expected after a very large drop the previous week, with Labor Department officials citing seasonal factors.
Initial claims for jobless benefits rose 40,000 to 349,000 while the four-week moving average of filings, which smoothes weekly fluctuations, advanced 3,250 to 339,000.

They forgot that last week was a 4 day week in most cases, because of the 4th of July holiday, so 1/5 of the people who might have raced to the unemployment office after getting their notice on Friday may not have done so. Unless that's the "unexpected drop" of 40,000 -- people who couldn't apply on Friday, because offices may have been closed. This happened the week of Ronnie's funeral too.

Nerd girl that I am, I've been keeping my own Excel spreadsheet of this stuff, and when I'm not blogging, painting, or thinking about looking for actual work I note that the average (and the median) are about 345,000 claims/week since November 20, 2003, when I started keeping track. Weekly revisions have always tended (by about 2,000) to go up, rather than down.

Have been watching for plant closings too, but there haven't been as many (a good thing, of course) at least as reported in the press. Should take a pass thru the state-by-state WARN notices I've talked about before.

What better thing to do when it's yet another perfect day outdoors, pleasant seventies, just a hint of a breeze to ruffle the leaves as birdies sing? Saw a pigeon on my roof when I went for coffee this morning and have no idea how he got up there. Did he climb? Don't know that I've ever actually seen one fly.


- posted by Cynthia @ 12:03 PM | | | Link |