Thank You Jeff Gannon, For the Cowbell You Provide

Unemployment Claims Plunge Unexpectedly

Unexpected to some, maybe. But Jeff Gannon, posing under the new psuedonym Clarence Beaks, tipped me that a surge in demand for frozen concentrated orange juice presaged a goose in employment:

The number of Americans claiming initial jobless benefits fell unexpectedly by 2,000 last week to the lowest level in more than four years as the U.S. labor market continued to strengthen, a government report showed Thursday.

...

Last week's decline marks the lowest level since October 2000, before the economy tipped into recession.

Wall Street economists had expected a rise in claims to 315,000. The surprise fall is likely to boost analyst expectations for February's broader payroll report, which surveys employers at the same time of the month as last week's jobless claims report.

Thanks to Chickpea.

And of course to Jeff Gannon, patron site of leading economic indicators.

Alternate Cowbell: Because for this great news the old Gene Frenkle just won't do.

Nixon makes historic hand-shake with rock-n-roll legend Jeff "The Abdomen" Gannon.

Thanks for the photoshop to the most excellent Slublog.

posted by Ace at 01:25 PM

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