UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE NEWS
The unemployment rate stayed at 9.7% for February! This is the second straight month at that rate. In December it dropped to 10.0% from 10.2% in November. Hopefully, the trend downward will continue.
As of February 27, 2010 the figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 469,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week's revised figure. The past 4-week average of initial claims being filed was 470,750, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 474,250. The 4-week moving average is supposed to smooth out fluctuations in the weekly figures. It's going to be quite a roller coaster event for quite some time.