Daily Archives: January 28, 2016

Jobless Claims Fell Last Week But Rise Vs. Year-Earlier Level

There’s good news and modestly bad news in today’s weekly update on initial jobless claims. Let’s start with the positive. New filings fell 16,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 278,000. That’s an encouraging sign for two reasons: the latest slide pulls claims back from the six-month high in the previous update and pushes filings closer to the multi-decade low of 255,000 from last summer. Unfortunately, the latest decline isn’t enough to keep the year-over-year comparison from rising—the first annual increase, in fact, since last August.
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Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged As Inflation Expectations Inch Up

The Federal Reserve kept the target Fed funds at the 0.25%-to-0.50% range in yesterday’s policy announcement. The Treasury market’s reaction was muted, with yields sticking close to the levels we’ve seen all week. But one curious development that’s worth keeping an eye on in the days ahead: the modest rise of late in the Treasury market’s implied inflation forecast, which continued to tick higher yesterday (Jan. 27), based on daily data via Treasury.gov.
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