Courtesy of Tyler Durden
Jobless claims missed consensus for the second week in a row, coming it at 484,000, 44k worse than expected, 24k worse than the week before, and the worst since February 20. Of course, the B(L)S has to provide a narrative for why the economy is not performing as expected by the propagandorium: and this week’s explanation is hilarious. A Labor Department economist said Thursday that this latest rise can also be pegged to lag effects from the spring holidays including Easter and Cesar Chavez Day, which is celebrated in worker-heavy California, and blamed the increase on technical factors and not on rising layoffs. This is now the second week that Easter has gotten blamed for deteriorating economic data. Easter was also blamed for the delay in Greek bonds a few weeks ago (those particular investors now wish they had just slept in through the day they were getting their allocated share). As for initital claims, the four-week moving average, which aims to smooth volatility in the data to help paint a better picture of the underlying trend, also rose for the week ended April 10. The Labor Department said the four-week moving average went up by 7,500 to 457,750 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 450,250. Continuing claims also increased by 73,000 to 4,639,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,566,000. And while Extended Benefits declined by 99,716, Emergency claims increased by 261,817 to 5.855 million.