Oh no more bad news for ODS cons: U.S. Jobless Claims Fall Sharply By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The number of people seeking unemployment benefits for the first time plummeted last week to 352,000, the fewest since April 2008, the Labor Department said Thursday. The decline added to evidence that the job market is strengthening.
Weekly applications fell by 50,000, the biggest drop in the seasonally adjusted figure in more than six years. The four-week average, which smooths out fluctuations, dropped to 379,000. That was the second-lowest such figure in more than three years.
When weekly applications fall consistently below 375,000, it usually signals that hiring is strong enough to push down the unemployment rate. A department spokesman cautioned, however, that volatility at this time of year is common.
Separately, the department said consumer prices were unchanged last month, the latest sign that inflation remains tame. Lower gasoline prices offset rising costs for food, medical care and housing.
The Consumer Price Index was flat in December for the second straight month, the government said. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices rose 0.1 percent.
Inflation appears to be peaking after rising steeply last year. Prices rose 3 percent in 2011, up from a 1.5 percent pace in 2010 and the most since 2007. But that was down from the 12-month increase of 3.9 percent in September.
Lower inflation gives consumers more spending power, which bolsters growth. It also gives the Federal Reserve more leeway to keep interest rates low and take other steps to strengthen the economy.
Many economists say inflation has peaked and that they expect the rate to decline this year. The prices for oil and many farm commodities, such as corn and wheat, have declined. That has brought down the price of gasoline and slowed food inflation.
The Federal Reserve projects consumer price inflation will fall from about 2.8 percent in 2011 to roughly 1.7 percent this year.
_________________ "Get government out of my Medicare!"- A typical conservative moron who votes republican
|