I don't see what we've got here that anyone likes....
In the week ending December 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 372,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 362,000. The 4-week moving average was 360,000, an increase of 250 from the previous week's revised average of 359,750.
Meh. What's the big table tell us as the last number before we get the NFP tomorrow?
You have to wonder about that "Extended Benefits" figure -- that's a BIG drop and the program is basically gone. This, along with the EUC follow-through, leads me to wonder if perhaps people got off their ass coming into the end of the year in the expectation that the fiscal cliff was going to terminate their payments!
If so then tomorrow could actually be a decent month for employment, and the ADP report could actually be accurate.
If so, however, then it will mark the utter failure of our Congress, which extended the EUC program in their "negotiations", and by doing so materially damaged any further employment recovery for the next year.
