by Turd Ferguson, TF Metals Report:

It’s another slow news day but, because of that, the weekly jobless claims data got far more attention than usual. And it’s a good thing, too, as the weekly totals finally budged off of the ridiculously stable 212,000 number for the first time in weeks.

For this data to have any relevance at all, it has to eventually begin showing the impact of the hundreds of thousands of corporate layoffs. Oh sure, maybe a “white collar” job loss comes with some sort of temporary severance package that forestalls a claim for unemployment insurance. But those severance checks run out eventually and, if you haven’t found a new job, you’re going to end up in line at your local employment office.