The U.S. stock market barely budged after jobless claims dropped to their lowest level since April 2006 this week. But with all the talk of quantitative easing, how is this possible?
It can all be traced back to a technical error. A computer snafu caused fewer applications to be included in the final report.
As a result, claims did little to deter investors. Per Businessweek:
“The sense is that the U.S. economy is not sufficiently strong to favor an immediate taper,” Jeremy Batstone-Carr, head of research at Charles Stanley Group Plc in London, said in a telephone interview. “We are in for a comparatively quiet session after a recent sharp reduction in levels of volatility as investors eye a new all-time high in U.S. equities.”
