Economics Update

It's jobless Thursday, and initial jobless claims rose again, by 19,000 to 479,000, with four-week moving average increased by 5,250 to 458,500, and continuing claims fell by 34,000 to 4.54 million, though a lot of this may be people running out their string on normal benefits.

I would note that this number has been bouncing between 450K and 480K for a few months, and that this number is around 100,000 more than is needed for a recovery in employment.

Meanwhile, in central bank land, the Bank of England kept its benchmark rate at ½%, effectively 0%, and it's asset purchase program, aka quantitative easing, aka printing money, remains essentially unchanged.

Finally, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit an all time low, 4.49%. (!)