Jobs Data Continues to Cause Concern

ADP released their estimate for private employment yesterday: 522,000 jobs lost in January. They revised their December estimate to a loss of 659,000 jobs from a loss of 693,000 jobs. This points to a loss of about 500,000 jobs in tomorrow's BLS report. Economists are estimating a loss of 540,000.

Weekly jobless claims were released today and provide every reason to think that the unemployment rate will soon climb to the 9% - 10% range. 626,000 initial claims were filed and continuing claims stood at 4,788,000.

These numbers are at almost 30 year highs both on an absolute and relative basis.