Initial Jobless Claims Highest since July.

Initial Jobless Claims (week ended 12/26/2015)

– New Claims seasonally adjusted  287,000. Previous was 267,000
– New Claims unadjusted, totaled 346,619 an increase of 26,978 from  previous
– 4-week Moving Average seasonally adjusted   277,000. Previous was 272,500

With seasonal adjustments so large it becomes difficult to know whether we are measuring the Jobs Market or the accuracy of the adjustments. Nonetheless this shows slight softening of the Jobs market.

Chicago PMI (December 2015)

– Business Barometer Index  42.9. Previous was 48.7

This is a composite survey and hard data index which measures business conditions in the Chicago area.  This reading shows contraction and is substantially worse than expectation.