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 March 6, 2010 the figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 462,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised figure. The past 4-week average of initial claims being filed was 475,500, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised average of 470,500. 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.