by Laura Conaway

High Frequency Economics' Ian Shepherdson spots the silver lining in today's job-loss figures. New claims for unemployment benefits rose by 8,000, to 652,000 — about what people expected. Shepherdson says he'll need a few months' data to be sure, but writes:

The trend in claims is still upwards, though the rate of increase might be slowing.

I'll take it.

 

Shepherdson also notes the revision in gross domestic product for the fourth quarter of 2009, calling the move from an annual contraction of 6.2 percent to 6.3 percent trivial. He's looking for a number closer to 4 percent for the quarter we're now in. Again, it's not what you'd want to call rosy, but you could consider it better.