Economics Update

We had the latest jobless report come out, and it's another mixed bag, with the initial claims falling by 24K to 601,000, and the 4 week moving average fell to 621,750, but continuing claims rose again to another record, 6.82 million.

We also have mixed news on retail sales, with a ½% increase month over month, but a 10.8% decrease year over year, and a lot of the increase was driven by more expensive retail gasoline, which, by the way, was up again today, to $2.632/gal.

And real estate is not looking good, with foreclosures hitting the 3^rd highest on record, and
mortgage rates rising sharply, to nearly 6%.

Additionally we have, despite the recent stock rally, Americans' wealth falling $1.3 so far in 2009.

Additionally, international trade is still in the doldrums, with China's exports in may down 26.4% year over year.

On the brighter side, Treasury yields fell, indicating that the upward pressure on interest rates may be abating.

In any case, it looks like oil will continue heading up, a prices closing at $72.68/bbl, though it was above $73 earlier in the day, largely on the IEA's upwardly revised estimates of world demand.

In currency, the dollar fells on what were seen to be positive jobs and sales data, which reduced safe-haven demand.