News that 1.3 million new workers applied for unemployment benefits for the week ending July 11 was discouraging. The new numbers came in at almost the same level as the previous week’s count, just slightly below the nearly 1.38 million four-week moving average. Are we stuck in a downward spiral or what? And what about other parts of the economy? Do we find anything besides bad news when we look at major economic sectors?

Well, a hard look at the data tells us that the numbers being added to the unemployment rolls each week have fallen significantly and continuously, from the nearly 6.87 million new claims that hit on the week ending March 28. In fact, this and other data suggest that April was a turning point of sorts for the economy. It’s when the speed at which the economy was declining began to diminish.