Jobless Claims

Initial claims moderated to 631,000 last week from an upwardly revised 645,000 the previous week. Continuing claims hit another record at 6,271,000: 4.7% insured unemployment rate.

You have to figure that an some point, initial claims will moderate. Each week, that 600,000+ number becomes a larger and larger percentage of the workforce. I would not feel much better about the economy until continuing claims show some sign of abatement.

By the way, equity futures are off of their overnight highs, but are still pointing to a good morning for longs: Dow futures are up over 100 points.