It's The Economy Stupid: Jobless Claims

Okay, these numbers are not going in the right direction, clearly there is some weakness in employment at present.

 

Economic Event	Period	Economic Survey	Actual Reported	Original Prior	Revised Prior
Initial Jobless Claims	APR 14	370K	386K	380K	388K
Continuing Jobless Claims	APR 7	3300K	3297K	3251K	3271K

 

The Initial Jobless Claims were reported worse than economist’s expectations, and the prior period Initial Jobless Claims number was revised upwards, meaning it was actually worse than originally reported.  Continuing Jobless Claims came in right at about economist’s expectations, but once again the prior period Continuing Jobless Claims number was revised upwards, worse than originally reported.

 

And for all of you who did not stay up last night to see what happened in the Spanish bond auction, it went well.  Okay, not great, but it didn’t crater either.  Doesn’t mean that Spain’s problems are over.   Spain sold all the bonds it wanted at auction on Thursday, though for Spain the cost was rising yields, indicating growing concerns the government will not be able to tame its deficit.  Spain sold 1.1 billion euros of a bond maturing Oct. 31, 2014, at an average yield of 3.463 percent.  It also tested market appetite for a longer-term benchmark bond, due Jan. 31, 2022, selling 1.4 billion euros at a yield of 5.743 percent, up from 5.403 percent at the last auction in January.  Still, the auctions weren’t as bad as feared.

 

The Euro still has issues.

 

 

 

John Broussard

Assistant State Treasurer

Chief Investment Officer

State of Louisiana

Department of the Treasury