Unemployment claims rise last week for the first time in 3 weeks
Bad news on the economic front: new claims for unemployment rose sharply last week.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks fell in early trading Wednesday after claims for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly for the first time in three weeks.
The Labor Department said 412,000 people applied for unemployment benefits last week. Economists expected claims to fall.
Applications for benefits peaked at 659,000 during the recession and have dropped by roughly 6 percent in the past four months.
This was unexpected, and I hope it's just a fluke, and not the start of a trend. The last thing the country and President Obama needs is a double-dip recession.
What's to blame? The article doesn't speculate, but my gut tells me that soaring gas prices are starting to hurt the economy.
I hope Obama does the right thing and clamps down on energy speculation soon.