Jobless claims drop again; retail sales rose in May

[jefferson_dem]

Source: AP

Jobless claims drop again; retail sales rose in May

WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy delivered two upbeat reports Thursday: New claims for unemployment benefits dropped more than expected in the most recent week, to 601,000 and May retail sales rose by the largest amont in four months.
The Labor Department says initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped last week by 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 601,000, below analysts' estimates of 615,000.

But continuing claims for the unemployed receiving benefits rose 59,000 to 6.8 million, highest on records dating to 1967.

Continuing claims have risen to record levels for 19 straight weeks.

In the retail sales report, the Commerce Department said retail sales rose 0.5% after falling a revised 0.2% in April, previously reported as a 0.4% drop.

Excluding motor vehicles and parts, sales rose 0.5% in May, compared with a 0.2% decline the prior month. Vehicles and parts sales rose 0.5% after a 0.4% fall in April.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales rising 0.5% in May. Excluding motor vehicles, sales had been predicted to gain 0.2%.

Gasoline sales jumped 3.6% in May after dropping 0.8% the previous month. Excluding gasoline, retail sales rose 0.2%. Sales of building materials climbed 1.3% in May, biggest advance since April last year, after falling 0.6% in April.

Soft spots in the report included sales of electronic goods, which fell 0.5% in May after declining 0.9% the previous month.



Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2009-06-11-jobless-claims-retail-sales_N.htm?csp=34

[marmar]

1. "But continuing claims for the unemployed receiving benefits rose 59,000 to 6.8 million, highest on"

Key stat. Nobody's finding jobs.

[xchrom]

3. that makes me very nervous -- because i want to move. nt

[OhioChick]

4. Bingo. n/t

[gizmo1979]

5. I can attest to that.

There was 1 new job posted in my county this week,paid 9 bucks an hour.Dandy.

[customerserviceguy]

2. Also, they're running out of people to lay off

Most companies are down to the bare minumum of protected people who have been with the company for years, and who represent a large base of knowledge for future operations. Anybody who can be trained off the street within two or three weeks for a job has pretty much already lost theirs.

[bemildred]

6. More than 600,000 new jobless claims is not "upbeat". nt

[TheWatcher]

7. According to The Propagandists it is.

This Awesum Recovery just keeps getting better. :crazy:

A few more months of "Things don't suck as bad as they did the week before, although over all it just keeps getting worse", and we'll all be Rich and NEVER have to work AGAIN.

I'm really ready to buy into all this Orwellian Stuff.

All we need is Optimism and Hope.

Jobs and Fundamentals have NOTHING to do with it.

:sarcasm: