Jobs Weak, Leading Indicators Weak

Jobs

Initial Jobless Claims (week ended 9/15/2012)

– Initial Claims 382,000.  Previous was revised upward to 385,000
– 4-Week Moving Average 377,750

The jobs market is weak and, with recession likely in Europe, we will be reminded that we have a world economy. With average unemployment in the EU nations over 10% those folks much as the domestic unemployed are not buying goods and services.

Leading Economic Indicators (August 2012)

– LEI Month/Month was -0.1%.

This is a rehash of 10 different bits of data and is produced by The Conference Board.  It is intended to be a forecast of economic growth about 4 months into the future.

Philadelphia Fed Survey (for September 2012)

– General Business Conditions Index -1.9.  Previous was -7.1.  The month before that was -12.9.