The US economy keeps getting better everyday!!!!!

[KMAN]

New Jobless Claims at Lowest Level in Three Years

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

WASHINGTON — New claims for jobless benefits fell last week to the lowest level since President Bush took office in January 2001, a sign that America's businesses are feeling more confident that the economic recovery is genuine.

The Labor Department (search) reported Wednesday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance dropped by a seasonally adjusted 15,000 to 339,000 for the week ending Dec. 27. Last week's drop marked the third week in a row that claims went down and left claims at their lowest level since Jan. 20, 2001 — Bush's inauguration day.

The latest snapshot of the labor market suggested that businesses may be feeling less inclined to hand out pink slips to workers as the economy shows signs of gaining traction.

The report was better than economists were expecting. They were forecasting a smaller decline that would have pushed claims down to a level of around 350,000.

Claims have been below 400,000 for 13 consecutive weeks, something economists view as a sign that the fragile labor market may be turning a crucial corner.

The more stable four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out week to week fluctuations, decreased last week by 6,500 to 355,750, the lowest level since Feb. 10, 2001.

New claims hit a high this year of 459,000 in the middle of April and have slowly declined, a development cited by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan (search) and other economists who say the pace of layoffs is stabilizing.

The labor market has displayed other signs of improvement in recent months. The nation's unemployment rate currently stands at 5.9 percent — down from a high this summer of 6.4 percent.

But job growth has been slow.

Since Bush took office, the economy has lost 2.3 million jobs, a development that Democrats hope to use against the president as he seeks re-election in 2004. The Bush administration contends that stronger economic growth will eventually lead to more meaningful job creation on a sustained basis.

The uncertain job climate is on Americans' minds.

Consumer confidence dipped in December amid anxiety about the job market, the Conference Board (search) reported Tuesday. The board's consumer confidence index slipped to 91.3 in December, following a surge in November to a revised figure of 92.5, its highest level in more than a year.

Economists believe the labor market will be the last part of the economy to recover even as the economy expands solidly.

The economy grew at a breakneck 8.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the best performance in nearly two decades. Analysts believe the economy slowed to a rate in the range of around 4 percent or 5 percent in the current quarter, which would still mark a solid showing.

Wednesday's report also showed that the number of unemployed people collecting jobless benefits for more than a week rose by 81,000 to 3.3 million for the week ending Dec. 20, the most recent period for which that information is available. This suggests that jobs are still hard to find for some workers.

Economists believe that as companies' profits improve they will feel even more comfortable about ramping up investment and hiring new people, two crucial ingredients to the recovery's staying power.


Remember in any recovery job growth is always last to recover. Companies don't want to hire new employees only to fire them a couple months later.

Thank God we have Bush in office instead of that fairy Gore. Has anyone seen his new Maybelline ad???


KMAN

 

[lander]

Good news, but take it with a grain of salt. Jobs are a great thing, but there is certainly a ways to go before our economy gets back to the commendable levels that Clinton's administration overlooked -

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3845921/
Dollar at life low vs. euro
Security fears seen weighing on greenback
Updated: 8:11 a.m. ET Dec. 31, 2003LONDON - The dollar hit an all-time low against the euro on Wednesday as disappointing U.S. economic data and concerns about possible attacks in the United States during New Year celebrations intensified selling pressure.

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In the previous session, latest U.S. consumer confidence, manufacturing and home sales figures fell short of expectations, though still pointed to recovery in the world's largest economy.

The U.S. government ordered warplanes to patrol skies over New York, Las Vegas and other U.S. cities during New Year's Eve celebrations as part of increased vigilance for terror attacks.

Nine days ago the U.S. terror alerts were raised to the second highest level due to heightened fear of attack, darkening dollar sentiment that was already bleak on concerns about the widening U.S. current account deficit.

"Weaker than expected U.S. data and security concerns are adding to reasons to sell dollars, which are already being pressured by the current account deficit and a lack of capital inflows to the U.S.," said Niels Christensen, senior currency strategist at Societe Generale in Paris. By 1030 GMT, the dollar fell as low as $1.2620 per euro, bringing its losses this year to more than 17 percent.

It also hit its lowest level in six years against the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar, and hit seven year lows versus the Swiss franc.

Against the yen, the dollar kept a close grip on recent three-year lows.

No rescue likely
The dollar's weakness is likely to draw market attention to February's Florida meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations, as investors speculate how the group would react to the recent dollar fall.

On Tuesday, a G7 source told Reuters that the group would look at the weakened dollar during the upcoming meeting.

Ahead of the G7 talks, there is a bi-monthly meeting among key central bankers at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel on January 12.

"That should give central bankers opportunity to talk about recent currency movements and the market will be cautiously watching for any comments," Christensen said.

The G7 source also said European nations were becoming increasingly concerned about the dollar's fall, adding that a level of $1.30 represented a "pain barrier".

But markets were not convinced that the G7 would try to prop up the dollar, betting that without signs of U.S. concerns about the currency's decline there was little chance of a coordinated move.

And so far, Washington has kept silent on the dollar as its weakness potentially lends a hand to America's troubled trade and budget deficits.

"A statement aimed at halting further euro appreciation is ... unlikely. European representatives who have for years publicly chastised the United States for its current account deficit will have a difficult time convincing their U.S. counterparts that a market solution to that problem is a bad thing," Citibank said.

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[SENDITIN]

Stock market is ripping as well...far exceeded my 10000 call for '03 year end...Really believe we have a shot for 12000 in '04 barring another terrorist shock.

 

[PatPatriot]

First time in 3 years the stock market ended up for the year....You really wonder how Bush did it fighting through the Clinton recession and trillion dollar hit in the economy on 9/11 and the follow up goverment spending on the war and security....It really is amazing, but then again its simple...Give people back THEIR money through tax cuts and let them put it back in the economy.