This week’s first time claims number is yet another mushy indicator which will be spun according to the preconceptions of the spinner. As Jeffrey Sparshott & Sarah Portlock report at the Wall Street Journal:
Initial claims for jobless benefits, a measure of layoffs, increased by 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 326,000 in the week ended Jan. 18, the Labor Department saidThursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected 330,000 new claims.
