Jobless claims fall more than expected as labor market firms

Reuters ^ | August 18, 2016 | Lucia Mutikani

[maggief]

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, reinforcing views of labor market strength that could encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates soon.

Another report on Thursday showed a modest improvement in manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region this month amid rising shipments from factories. But weak new orders and shrinking order books suggested the manufacturing malaise was far from over.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 262,000 for the week ended Aug. 13, the Labor Department said. Claims for the prior week were unrevised.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast initial claims slipping to 265,000 in the latest week.

Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a strong labor market, for 76 straight weeks. That is the longest such stretch since 1973, when the labor market was much smaller.

[FlingWingFlyer]

LOL. Okay.

[ground_fog]

Everything is a scam now..everything. I can’t even trust the numbers anymore. Obama is cooking them

[maggief]

Pathetic, isn’t it?

[wastoute]

So “everything is awesome”? Right?

[Tenacious 1]

“You can take a fresh pile of poo and mold it into anything you want it to look like. Regardless of what it looks like, it is still simply a pile of poo.” - T1

[equaviator]

In Michigan, the more unemployed a person is over a period of time, the less eligible for unemployment benefits they become.

#TechnicalCorrectnessMatters

[KC_Conspirator]

The last 8 years its been nothing but lies about the economy.

[maggief]

It’s all rainbows and unicorns!

[Grimmy]

Is it the market firming up? Or is it bottoming out and there’s not many left to pump into the newly expanded welfare class?

[zek157]

Sure.

All forms of shipping are also slipping as another signal of strength.

[litehaus]

“It’s all rainbows and unicorns!”

It’s from ‘ROOTERS’ ( Rooting for Obama )

[zek157]

From the Philly Fed...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-18/philly-fed-hope-jumps-new-orders-plunge-employment-crashes-7-year-lows

Despite a modest bounce in Philly Fed headline data - thanks purely to a jump in ‘hope’ from 33.7 to 45.8 (the highest in 18 months) - the underlying components of the Philly fed survey are a disaster. New orders collapsed, employment crashed to 7 year lows, Average workweek plunged, prices paid soared, and inventories fell.

6 of the 9 indicators fell...

[litehaus]

All forms of shipping are also slipping as another signal of strength..............
AS are orders for Big Trucks,RR cars,etc etc

[Ben Ficklin]

[zek157]

I almost feel for the believers of this propaganda... No, after thinking about it, I don’t care one iota. I do feel for the people that have been struggling through this jobless decade and hopium filled nightmare of a recovery.

Waiting for the bottom to fallout and the media to say in unison “nobody could have seen it coming”...

[Artcore]

No worries, they’ll post a revision of the numbers in a week or two.

What a hot load of B.S.

[Ingtar]

Did they drop the labor participation rate again?

[CMB_polarization]

How many burgers can you flip in a 19 hour work week? Can you beat the McRobot?

[zek157]

Just in from Cat... Caterpillar Retail Orders Suffer Second Biggest Plunge Since Financial Crisis While the relentless decline in Caterpillar retail sales has been duly noted here every month for nearly 4 years, now posting 44 consecutive declines, the latest, July data was downright depressionary. According to the company, in the latest month - just when China was supposed to be rebounding and the US recovery getting "stronger" - demand took another sharp leg lower, as follows: ◦North America machine sales down 20% after falling 12% in June ◦Asia/Pacific sales July down 7% after falling 7% in June ◦Latam sales July down 43% after falling 38% ◦EAME (Europe, Africa, Middle East) sales July down 13% after falling 4% This means that Caterpillar's rolling 3-month retail machine sales dropped by 19% in July vs the more modest 12% fall in June and May. It also means that, as shown in the chart below, in the past month CAT retail sales just posed the second largest monthly drop since the financial crisis.