Economics Update

Woah, new claims for jobless benefits just jumped by 58,000, to 573,000, a 26 year high.

Continuing claims, which is a far less noisy metric, also jumped to a 26 year high, 4.43 million, up from 4.09 million.

In real estate, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage hit 5.47%, a 4½ year low, and forclosures fell in November, but this appears to be as a result of new state laws requiring more time for the process and/or temporary moratoriums, so there will likely be a significant spike in the next few months.

In the more general economy, we have a first, or at least a first since the Federal Reserve began collecting the data in 1951, the level of consumer debt held in the US has fallen, by 0.8%.

Of course, consumer net worth fell by 4.7%, so it's a net loss.

In international finance, the Swiss Central Bank cut its interest rate by 50 basis point, and China's exports fell 2.2% year over year, the steepest drop in nearly a decade.

In currency, the dollar weakened significantly, by about 4¢.

My guess is that it was some combination of extremely low interest rates in the US, or the demonstration of batsh%$ insanity by the Republican senators on the auto bailout vote.

In energy, oil is back above $45/bbl on strong calls by OPEC for production cuts, and retail gasoline prices continued their slide.