US jobless claims stand at 309K, better than 331K expected. Last week saw a distortion of the data with 292K. It was now revised to 294K. It seems that the data from last time is still skewed.
EUR/USD was trading on high ground at 1.3550, not stopping after the Bernanke bomb. The pair is now falling towards support at 1.3250. USD/JPY broke above 99 and now trades at 99.30. Against the yen, the dollar already reversed its losses. Against most other currencies, the NO taper effect is still very clear to see.
Two states didn’t report the data last week: Nevada, a small one and California, a big one. Nevertheless, the four week moving average now stands just below 315K, a level last seen before the financial crisis: since October 2007.
There has been a disconnect between the excellent fall in jobless claims (also without the recent distortion) and the overall state of the economy.
Continuing claims fell deeper: to 2.787 million, getting further away from the 3 million figure it fought to break in recent months.