…according to this article from Las Vegas Sun.
The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week rose by the most in a month, signaling growing weakness in the job market.
Applications rose by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 429,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the second increase in three weeks and the 11th straight week that applications have been above 400,000.
Unfortunately, I’ll be adding to this number come August. Sigh…..
Of course this effects the stock market:
Stocks appeared to be headed for another losing day. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 175 points in early-morning trading.
And caused The Fed to adjust unemployment forecast numbers:
The Federal Reserve acknowledged on Wednesday that the economy has slowed in recent months. Fed officials also said in a statement summing up their two-day meeting that “recent labor market indicators have been weaker than anticipated.”
As a result, the Fed reduced its forecast for employment and growth this year. It projects that unemployment at the end of 2011 will be around 8.6 percent to 8.9 percent. That’s more pessimistic than its forecast from two months ago, which had put the unemployment rate at 8.4 percent to 8.7 percent by year’s end.
I’m gonna start calling you Mr. Sunshine.
I prefer moonshine