The latest economic news continues to disappoint, which shouldn’t come as any surprise. Durable goods orders for December dropped 2.6%, worse than expectations for a decline of 2%. Excluding transportation orders, durables were down 3.6% against a -2.7% forecast.
On the employment front, initial jobless claims rose to 588,000 from a revised 585,000 (forecast was for 575k). Continuing claims hit 4.776 million, up from 4.617 million a week earlier and against a 4.62 million forecast. Continuing claims are now at their highest level since the Labor Department first tracked the numbers in 1967.
