Economics Update

I already blogged about the big news of the day, the increase in the rate for the discount window, so the lede here, as it is every jobless Thursday, is initial unemployment claims, which rose by 31,000 to 473,000, though the 4 week moving average fell slightly, and continuing claims were unchanged.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia released its index of regional manufacturing activity, and the index is positive, indicating continued growth, for the 6^th straight month.

In Wally World, Wal-Mart's same store sales fell in the 4^th quarter.

I'm not sure if this is just generally bad news, or if it implies that shoppers are moving upscale and spending more.

The rest of the news is driven by today's Fed announcement, which drove treasuries down, and thus yields up, as well as pushing the dollar, and crude oil higher.