From Pine View Farm

Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0

A little better.

Jobless claims dropped by 18,000 to 259,000 in the period ended June 18, a Labor Department report showed Thursday.

(snip)

The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, fell to 267,000 from 269,250 in the prior week. Last week included the 12th of the month, which coincides with the period the Labor Department surveys employers to calculate monthly payroll data. The average is lower than the 278,000 during the comparable period in May.

The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits decreased by 20,000 to 2.14 million in the week ended June 11.

In their headline, Bloomberg is all a-flutter because

Jobless Claims in U.S. Declined More Than Forecast Last Week.

I suggest a more appropriate headline might have been

Our Experts Blew It Again.

Snark aside, tying economic success or failure to exceeding or failing to meet “forecasts” is a mug’s game. It serves only to feed Wall Street’s betting pools and to maintain sinecures for self-styled pseudo-savants; it has no other purpose.

Share

Comments are closed.