Initial unemployment claims expectently jumped 27 thousand last week, which is bad news.  Continuing claims (which is really more important) fell to the lowest level since September of 2008, which is good news.

The Producer Price Index was expected to be up 1.0% but came in better at 0.7% in March, down from 1.6% in February.  However, if you strip out food and energy, producer prices were up 0.3%, compared to 0.2% last month.  That is worrisome and will be watched closely.

Futures indicate the market will open down about 70 points but not because of our economic news this morning.  More importantly, China has put its banks on notice that they must raise more capital, which will further depress lending.  They are doing this to suppress inflation.  We will not see the customary 10% annual growth rates out of them for awhile.  Also, there was serious discussion in Greece of requiring bondholders to take a “haircut” or discount on the face value of their bonds, causing their interest costs to hit yet another record high.  As a result, Europe is down sharply this morning.

Looks like a good day for investors to read the sports page instead!