Initial unemployment claims for the week ending April 10 were up and conflicted.  The advance figure was 484,000, an increase of 24,000 from the previous week’s unrevised figure of 460,000. The 4-week moving average was 457,750, an increase of 7,500 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 450,250.  This marks the second time since the great recession began that the average moved below 450,000 only to rise above that level again.It’s not unusual to have a spike in April following Easter.  The Christian Science Monitor confirmed that Wall Street believes a recovery is under way.  But the statistics suggest that the recovery will be long term and modest. Bernanke echoed the view of a moderate economic recovery.The figures, however, don’t suggest that the economy will dip into recession again.  The Monitor concludes that the prospects of a double-dip recession are fading. The reports may be signaling that growth in the coming months will be slower than Wall Street appears to believe.
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