Update USA Unemployment 1st Time Claims
Employment jobless claims for 1st time requests is down 19,000 on a month-to-month basis in April well below the 300,000 unofficial benchmark at 238,000. Additionally, the 4-week average remained nearly flat at 243,000. Continuing claims were also down by 23,000 to 1.96 million.
Update USA Business Activity
American non-manufacturing survey from ISM shows a continuing improvement in the area. For the 88th consecutive month the measure grew now standing at 57.5 in April. This is a 2.3-point improvement over the previous month.
Update USA ADP Employment Survey
Employment continues to do well in the U.S. with the addition of 177,000 in nonfarm payrolls. While the current addition is less than previous months, it is inline with the upward trend of around 200,000 per month addition. The current level of 177,000 is better than 4 of the past 12 months. It will be increasingly more difficult to add in employment numbers as the unemployment rate continues to drop.
USA Snap Shot
The market is on track for an above average year with the DOW Index already reaching 6.85% (S&P 500 Index at 6.81%). Unfortunately, well behind the large cap index is Mid cap at 4.52%and Small cap at 1.61%. At least the Small cap market is remaining in positive territory, but it has struggled the entire year.
USA Stock Consideration Change Report
No Changes In Today’s Consideration Status