Giddy Yap!

In my recent newsletter I had indicated that I thought the picture for unemployment would improve. I think this is good news: the state unemployment benefit claims fell by 40,000 this past week, and the Federal claims fell by 500,000. This means, based on my calculations, the following: the unemployment based on state claims fell from 9.7% to 9.6% and, more meaningful, the federal claims fell from 12.5% to 11.3%. Overall, the jobless rate, while still very high, moved from over 22% to 20.9%. I will be happy to see this continue. In another bold move, housing sales were up 27% in March, the highest in 47 years. It is likely that April will also see housing sales rise, because the requirement to have an executed sales contract, to get the federal tax credit for a home purchase, expires at the end of this month. It appears we are moving forward. Ed