Can't Raise the Bridge? Just Lower the Water..

What's the best way to ensure that we get a gee-whiz-largest-decline-in recent-history number for weekly jobless claims?

First, you go with seasonal adjustments, which make it possible to over-ride any inconvenient trends. Then, you bump up the number from the previous week so it looks like there's some daylight..

The newspapers helpfully report it as a huge decline. Merry Christmas everyone.

Uh course the numbers aren't all that great, when you see them side by side, but hey, it's the buzz phrase that counts.

In related news, I had the least amount of turkey on record in my Christmas ham dinner yesterday.

Chart of the Day #26

We should probably be somewhat relieved that the bucket gets filled at $10 billion less a month; but lest anyone thinks this is a big improvement, take a look at this chart from ZeroHedge.

Market Players are happy to take this as a sign that they can run free and easy in the market for a long while before A: a real taper happens, or B: something unforeseen happens.