Jobless Claims Are On the Rise

Initial jobless claims spiked to 375,000 last week, They are substantially above economists' forecasts and much higher than recent readings. Continuing claims for the week of January 18 was 2.72 million, also up from the prior week.

Initial claims may not be correct because of measurement problems arising from the Martin Luther King Day holiday. (Don't ask me why.)

I tend not to track this metric since it is fairly volatile. However, I am very interested in the trend, amnd the trend is certainly up. This is the 3-month moving average for both initial and continuing claims.

Unemployment is rising and the economy is slowing.