Stock Market Performance vs Weekly Unemployment and Jobless Claims – Labor Department Reports 464,000 Today
Posted on | July 22, 2010 | Comments Off
The initial weekly unemployment and jobless claims data was released this morning and the Labor Department has reported an unemployment claims number of 464,000 which is well above what was predicted around 450,000. Over the last three years the overall direction of the US Stock Market has seen a very strong correlation to weekly jobless claims.
By looking at the unemployment claims chart it is clearly evident that the top was set in March of 2009. In March of 2009 the stock market hit its multi year low around 683. As weekly unemployment and jobless claims started to decline the stock market gained footing and pushed higher. Since March of 2009 weekly unemployment claims are down from 651,000 to 464,000, a decline of 28.7%. During that time the S&P 500 has moved from 683 to 1087, a gain of 59.2%.
With the unemployment rate greatly affecting the overall health of the economy it comes as no surprise to see businesses struggling to make money when there are so many Americans unemployed. If the economy is going to continue to improve the weekly unemployment and jobless claims numbers must continue to drop to levels closer to 250,000 or less.
Author: Alan Lake
Tags: initial jobless claims > jobless claims > stock market performance > unemployment claims > weekly initial unemployment claims > weekly jobless claims > weekly unemployment claims