Weekly Unemployment Claims (every Thursday)
We will get last week’s unemployment figures early tomorrow morning. They are expected to show the employment sector weakened slightly last week with an increase in new claims for jobless benefits. Forecasts have the number of new claims at 200,000, up from the previous week’s 197,000. The larger the number of new filings, the better the news for bonds and mortgage rates. Since this is just a weekly snapshot, the release usually has a just modest impact on rates, at best. However, since there is so little data and other events on this week’s calendar, we may see a little stronger reaction to a surprise number than we usually do.