Suitably Flip

Jobless Claims Dwindling

More rosy economic news today, as the Labor Department said jobless claims fell by an unexpectedly large 26,000 last week to 299,000.

The improvement was much better than the decline of 9,000 that analysts had been expecting and provided further evidence that the slowing U.S. economy has not begun to seriously affect the labor market outside of specific industries such as housing and auto manufacturing.

Lately, the market has been bit ambivalent about good news, as it's tended to spoil the expectation that the Fed would ease interest rates early in 2007.  With the economic slowdown appearing ever less likely to pitch us toward recession, Fed inaction may turn out be the most investors can hope for.  Then again, if oil keeps falling and inflationary pressures continue to dry up, perhaps the glimmer of lower rates will re-emerge.

For today, anyway, the market appears largely willing to treat today's good news as good news.

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Jobless Claims Dwindling

More rosy economic news today, as the Labor Department said jobless claims fell by an unexpectedly large 26,000 last week to 299,000.

The improvement was much better than the decline of 9,000 that analysts had been expecting and provided further evidence that the slowing U.S. economy has not begun to seriously affect the labor market outside of specific industries such as housing and auto manufacturing.

Lately, the market has been bit ambivalent about good news, as it's tended to spoil the expectation that the Fed would ease interest rates early in 2007.  With the economic slowdown appearing ever less likely to pitch us toward recession, Fed inaction may turn out be the most investors can hope for.  Then again, if oil keeps falling and inflationary pressures continue to dry up, perhaps the glimmer of lower rates will re-emerge.

For today, anyway, the market appears largely willing to treat today's good news as good news.