The last 2 weeks have seen initial claims surge by almost 40k back (the most in 5 months) above 2013's closing levels. This post-weather-recovery "ignore Q1 GDP" pent-up demand is absolutely not evident in the jobs data as the 344k print for initial claims is the highest since Feb. This is also confirmed by the 5.7% rise year-over-year in Challenger job cuts which has left the year-to-date job cuts at their worst for an April since the recession ended... But didn't everyone tell us that April was looking good and that Q1 GDP was in the past and we should for get about it?
Initial Claims... ugly
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Challenger job cuts... ugly...
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