Happy Thanksgiving News!

Just in time for Thanksgiving, the Labor Department has given us some good news by announcing that the weekly jobless claims for last week fell to the lowest since the first week of January. The jobless claims dropped to 466,000. As I indicated in my November 13 blog, the number needs to get to about 400,000 to signal a real turning point, but it was a surprise to see the number go below 500,000 for the first time since early January. Another seemingly positive sign is that the number of payroll cuts expected in November is about 145,000 vs. about 190,000 in October. These seem to be trends that are going the right way. Consumer spending also appears to be increasing with the savings rate dropping from 4.6% in September to 4.4% in October. The only issue is that spending is outpacing income growth. Can this be sustained? All and all, it is nice to see positive news even if it is not conclusive.