Thursday, November 20, 2008

New claims are the sign the market needs for new lows.

This morning the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits hit their highest level in 16 years. Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits were a seasonally adjusted 542,000 in the week ended Nov. 15 from a revised 515,000 the previous week. That was higher than analysts' forecast for a reading of 505,000 new claims. For "good" news, Citigroup's largest individual investor - Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal - plans to boost his stake in Citi from less than 4% up to 5%.

We still have the Philly Fed and Leading Economic Indicators ahead. So the 10-yr is up almost 2 points, but mortgages are only up (better) between .250 and .5 in price. We are continuing to see the "flight to quality" exclude mortgages, and other debt instruments, as volatility and credit risk limit interest in anything but Treasuries.

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