Semi-decent economic news

The economic news was fairly decent this morning.

Unemployment initial claims were up slightly but still holding below the 400K recession threshold. Continuing claims rose, which is not good news.

Personal incoming and spending continued to rise, even after discounted by inflation, although the spending increase was rather modest.

Orders for durable goods declined moderately, but were up moderately separate from transportation goods.

Consumer sentiment rose as well.

So, there is still no sign of any impending recession.

Still, a lot of this data tells us where we were and not so much where we will be going over the next year, which is what the stock market is supposed to be "predicting."

That said, the U.S. economy is clearly currently much stronger than a lot of critics are claiming. Yes, there is still a lot of underlying weakness and anxieties about debt, but this is still all "par for the course" in America which never has been and likely never will be the kind of finely-tuned watch that critics assert that is has to be.

-- Jack Krupansky