JLarkin

Why the Bulls Are Skating on Thin Ice

Michael, I am confused about the initial claims numbers. You wrote as if half a million jobs are lost every week: "Another 550,000+ Americans filed initial jobless claims -- the 35th straight week above the half-a-million mark."

If we lost 2.4 million jobs in six months, then we lost 400,000 jobs per month, or about 100,000 jobs per week.

I thought 550,000 was an annual number based on the most recent week, i.e. new weekly claims x 52. Can you clear this up for me?