STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 31 December 2015

[Tansy_Gold]

[font size=3]STOCK MARKET WATCH, Thursday, 31 December 2015[font color=black][/font]

SMW for 30 December 2015

AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 30 December 2015
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Dow Jones 17,603.87 -117.11 (-0.66%)
S&P 500 2,063.36 -15.00 (-0.72%)
Nasdaq 5,065.85 -42.09 (-0.82%)


[font color=green]10 Year 2.30% -0.01 (-0.43%)
30 Year 3.04% -0.01 (-0.33%) [font color=black]


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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Market Data and News:[/font][/font]
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Economic Calendar
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Essential Reading:[/font][/font]
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Matt Taibi: Secret and Lies of the Bailout


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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Government Issues:[/font][/font]
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LegitGov
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[font color=black][font size=2]Handy Links - Videos:[/font][/font]
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Charlie Rose talks with Roubini
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William Black: This Economic Disaster
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[font color=red]Partial List of Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 [/font][font color=red]
2/2/12 David Higgs and Salmaan Siddiqui, Credit Suisse, plead guilty to conspiracy involving valuation of MBS
3/6/12 Allen Stanford, former Caribbean billionaire and general schmuck, convicted on 13 of 14 counts in $2.2B Ponzi scheme, faces 20+ years in prison
6/4/12 Matthew Kluger, lawyer, sentenced to 12 years in prison, along with co-conspirator stock trader Garrett Bauer (9 years) and co-conspirator Kenneth Robinson (not yet sentenced) for 17 year insider trading scheme.
6/14/12 Allen Stanford sentenced to 110 years without parole.
6/15/12 Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, found guilty of insider trading. Could face a decade in prison when sentenced later this year.
6/22/12 Timothy S. Durham, 49, former CEO of Fair Financial Company, convicted of one count conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, and one count of securities fraud.
6/22/12 James F. Cochran, 56, former chairman of the board of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and six counts of wire fraud.
6/22/12 Rick D. Snow, 48, former CFO of Fair, convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, one count of securities fraud, and three counts of wire fraud.
7/13/12 Russell Wassendorf Sr., CEO of collapsed brokerage firm Peregrine Financial Group Inc. arrested and charged with lying to regulators after admitting to authorities he embezzled "millions of dollars" and forged bank statements for "nearly twenty years."
8/22/12 Doug Whitman, Whitman Capital LLC hedge fund founder, convicted of insider trading following a trial in which he spent more than two days on the stand telling jurors he was innocent
10/26/12 UPDATE: Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta sentenced to two years in federal prison. He will, of course, appeal. . .
11/20/12 Hedge fund manager Matthew Martoma charged with insider trading at SAC Capital Advisors, and prosecutors are looking at Martoma's boss, Steven Cohen, for possible involvement.
02/14/13 Gilbert Lopez, former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group, and former controller Mark Kuhrt sentenced to 20 yrs in prison for their roles in Allen Sanford's $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
03/29/13 Michael Sternberg, portfolio mgr at SAC Capital, arrested in NYC, charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. Pled not guilty and freed on $3m bail.
04/04/13 Matthew Marshall Taylor,fmr Goldman Sachs trader arrested, charged by CFTC w/defrauding his employer on $8BN futures bet "by intentionally concealing the true huge size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses associated."
04/04/13 Matthew Taylor admits guilt, makes plea bargain. Sentencing set for 26 June; faces up to 20 years in prison but will likely only see 3-4 years. Says, "I am truly sorry."
04/11/13 Ex-KPMG LLP partner Scott London charged by federal prosecutors w/passing inside tips to a friend in exchange for cash, jewelry, and concert tickets; expected to plead guilty in May.
08/01/13 Fabrice Tourré convicted on six counts of security fraud, including "aiding and abetting" his former employer, Goldman Sachs
08/14/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout charged with wire fraud, falsifying records, and conspiracy in connection with JP Morgan's "London Whale" trade.
08/19/13 Phillip A. Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, agrees to admit to "wrongdoing" in market manipulation. Will banned from securities industry for 5 years and pay $18MM in disgorgement and fines.
09/16/13 Javier Martin-Artajo and Julien Grout officially indicted on charges associated with "London Whale" trade.
02/06/14 Matthew Martoma convicted of insider trading while at hedge fund SAC (Stephen A. Cohen) Capital Advisors. Expected sentence 7-10 years.
03/24/14 Annette Bongiorno, Bernard Madoff's secretary; Daniel Bonventre, director of operations for investments; JoAnn Crupi, an account manager; and Jerome O'Hara and George Perez, both computer programmers convicted of conspiracy to defraud clients, securities fraud, and falsifying the books and records.
05/19/14 Credit Suisse, which has an investment bank branch in NYC, agrees to plead guilty and pay appx. $2.6 billion penalties for helping wealthy Americans hide wealth and avoid taxes.
09/08/14 Matthew Martoma, convicted SAC trader, sentenced to 9 years in prison plus forfeiture of $9.3 million, including home and bank accounts
08/03/15 Former City (London) trader Tom Hayes found guilty of rigging global Libor interest rates. Each fo eight counts carries up to 10 yr. sentence.
08/21/15 Charles Antonucci Sr, former pres. Park Ave. Bank sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for bribery, fraud, embezzlement, and attempt to steal $11MM in TARP bailout funds, as well as $37.5MM fraud on OK insurance company. To pay $54MM in restitution and give up additional $11MM.
09/21/15 Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn apologizes for VW cheating on air quality standards with emission testing avoidance device. Stock drops 20%, fines may total $18B.
09/22/15 Stewart Parnell, CEO Peanut Corp. of America, sentenced to 28 years in prison for selling salmonella-tainted peanut butter that killed nine.
12/17/15 Martin Shkreli, former CEO Turing Pharmaceuticals and notorious price gouger, arrested on securities fraud charges. Posted $5M bail, resigned as CEO.




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[font size=3][font color=red]This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.[/font][/font][/font color=red][font color=black]

[Tansy_Gold]

1. And so endeth another year. How time flies. . . .

I looked for an affluenza/Domino's pizza cartoon, but I guess no one can make that one funny.

Happy New Year's Eve, SMWers. See you next year!

[Proserpina]

2. Happy New Year, from ours to yours

I don't remember much before August, but the fall and early winter are burnt into my brain...

Had another awful day, will post in morning.

[kickysnana]

3. Wishing everyone success, prosperity, health and true security in 2016.

[MattSh]

4. And... our holidays are just beginning!

We're at the start of an official 4-day weekend and even though Monday thru Wednesday (and maybe Friday) are officially working days, generally most people have these days off. And generally, that's in addition to your official 4 weeks vacation. Next Thursday? That's a holiday (Christmas). Then the following Thursday (Jan 13), we have this strange little tradition called "Old New Years".

And a happy and prosperous and relatively normal New Year to all. Whatever passes as relatively normal for you.

[Proserpina]

5. Passes for normal? You mean the usual? I was hoping for some improvement!

Happy holidays from Demeter and me and the Kid....dogs, cats, the hangers-on.

[Proserpina]

6. Deutsche Bank to Raise Up to $4 Billion From Huaxia Sale

selling off the Chinese subsidiary

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-28/deutsche-bank-says-picc-to-acquire-firm-s-20-stake-in-hua-xia



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Deutsche Bank AG agreed to sell its 20 percent stake in Huaxia Bank Co. to PICC Property and Casualty Co. as co-Chief Executive John Cryan advances plans to narrow the German company’s focus and raise capital buffers.

The sale will generate as much as 25.7 billion yuan ($4 billion), Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank said in a statement on Monday. The deal would have added 30 to 40 basis points to Deutsche Bank’s 11.5 percent common equity Tier 1 ratio, using Sept. 30 as a basis, the company said.

Cryan, who took over from Anshu Jain in July, is selling assets and reducing bonuses to help raise the company’s financial strength without tapping shareholders for funds. Deutsche Bank follows competitors Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. in selling holdings in Chinese financial institutions as new international rules make it expensive to hold minority stakes in lenders.

“It’s good that this is done, but it’s a small step in a long journey and this isn’t going to propel them forward,” Christian Hamann, an analyst at Hamburger Sparkasse who has a neutral recommendation on Deutsche Bank shares, said by phone from Hamburg. “It was clear they couldn’t do much with a minority stake. The price suggests they won’t have to take any more losses on the stake.”

more

[Proserpina]

7. Will Your Job Disappear by 2024?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-30/will-your-job-disappear-by-2024-

PODCAST AT LINK, PROBABLY TOO STUPID TO TRANSCRIBE

[Proserpina]

8. Midwest Flooding Might Make the Oil Glut Worse

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-30/floods-shutting-midwest-oil-pipeline-seen-worsening-record-glut

The worst flooding across the U.S. Midwest in four years has shut some oil pipelines and terminals near St. Louis, potentially swelling a glut of crude and extending this year’s price slide.

Five miles of the Mississippi River and 50 miles of the Illinois River have been shut, according to the U.S. Coast Guard website. The flooding is the worst since May 2011, when rising water on the Mississippi and its tributaries threatened refinery and chemical operations and disrupted shipping.

So far, the biggest shutdown is Enbridge Inc.’s Ozark oil pipeline, which was booked to carry about 200,000 barrels a day this month to Wood River, Illinois, from Cushing, Oklahoma. The outage of the section under the Mississippi River may further add to stockpiles at Cushing that reached a record high last week...

more

this can't be good news for gas prices in Ann Arbor...good thing my car is broke.

[Proserpina]

9. US Hill Expected to Clear Customs Bill, Then Probe TPP Accord

https://mninews.marketnews.com/content/us-hill-expected-clear-customs-bill-then-probe-tpp-accord

As it pertains to trade legislation in 2016, Congress has to deal with the leftovers before moving on to the main course. The leftover issue is the customs legislation that was hammered into final form by top lawmakers in early December and then approved by the House December 11 on a 256 to 158 vote. The customs bill was then sent to the Senate, but the upper chamber was not able to take up the legislation before adjourning for the year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said at a briefing December 18 that he is not certain when the Senate will take up the customs bill. "I don't know quite what the way forward is on customs next year, but it's certainly high on the agenda," he said.

The customs bill has three main features.

First, it reauthorizes and modernizes the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, strengthens the protection of intellectual property rights of U.S. exports, and punishes countries trying to evade import duties.

Second, the bill amends the recently enacted Trade Promotion Authority law by adding new American negotiating objectives for future U.S. trade agreements. One provision says the U.S. should not make commitments in trade agreements to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Another provision says the U.S. should not enter into trade agreements that would require it to change immigration laws.

Finally, the customs bill includes a permanent ban on Internet access taxes and gives states that have such taxes until June 2020 to end them.

The bill does not include a currency provision that was pushed by a number of lawmakers, including Sen. Chuck Schumer. That provision would consider currency undervaluation an export subsidy subject to countervailing duties, if the Commerce Department determines there has been harm to American firms.

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin said before Christmas that he and other senators may try on the Senate floor to remove the provision of the bill that pertains to the ban on Internet access taxes on the grounds that it is not germane to the underlying legislation.

Durbin said he and other senators also are troubled that the customs bill does not have strong currency provisions.

If Durbin is able to remove any part of the House-passed customs bill on the Senate floor, the bill would have to go back to the House for another vote.

House Ways and Means Committee Chair Kevin Brady has said he is primarily interested in the underlying trade enforcement provisions rather than other matters such as the Internet tax moratorium.

The fate of the customs bill is likely to be resolved by Congress in the early part of the new year.

Far less certain is the timing of congressional votes on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement between the U.S. and 11 other nations. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman announced October 5 in Atlanta that the TPP accord had been reached. President Barack Obama released the text of the TPP November 5 and sent Congress a letter saying he intends to sign the accord after a 90 day waiting period to allow Congress to review the accord's 30 chapters and its several annexes. Congress is likely to spend months reviewing the TPP, in private briefings and public hearings, as lawmakers seek to unpack and understand the complex agreement. The initial congressional reaction to the TPP agreement has been both cautious and critical, with top lawmakers saying they have reservations about the package but need to study it carefully before deciding if they will support or oppose it.

In an interview this month with the Washington Post, McConnell urged Obama to slow down consideration of TPP. He said no vote on legislation implementing the TPP should occur in Congress until after the November 2016 presidential and congressional elections -- nearly a full year from now. "It (the congressional vote) shouldn't come before the election," McConnell told the Post. "I think the president would be making a big mistake to try to have that voted on during the election. There's significant pushback all over the place."

Obama, in his end-of-the-year press conference December 18, said he believes TPP is one of the "handful of areas where we can make real progress" in 2016. He said the accord is "the most pro-labor, pro-environment, progressive trade deal in history," and it "eliminates just about every tariff on American manufacturing goods in countries that up until this point have charged a tax, essentially, on anything that American workers and American businesses sell in these areas." Obama acknowledged that the political struggle to get the TPP passed will be formidable. "So this is a big deal. And I think Speaker (Paul) Ryan would like to try to get it done. And there are both proponents and opponents of this in both Democratic and Republican parties, and so it's going to be an interesting situation where we're going to have to stitch together the same kind of bipartisan effort in order for us to get it done," he said.

Both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee are expected to hold an extensive series of hearings on TPP as will Congress's Agriculture, Banking, and Commerce committees.

When the House and Senate eventually vote on the TPP, they will cast up-or-down votes with no chance to amend the accord, which is subject to TPA.


and there you have it, friends, the ultimate betrayal by a man who is either an idiot or somebody's bought-and-paid-for.

[Proserpina]

10. Hedge Funds Struggle With Steep Losses and High Expectations

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/29/business/dealbook/hedge-funds-struggle-with-steep-losses-and-high-expectations.html?_r=1

... billionaire hedge fund managers, and many of their peers, will be under pressure to explain to their investors how they lost so much money this year...As the final performance figures for the industry come in, one thing is clear: 2015 could not have ended soon enough for many managers and their investors. Hedge fund managers like Mr. Einhorn, Mr. Ackman and Larry Robbins have stunned investors with the depth of their losses — in the double digits for some of their investment portfolios through early December.

...Steep losses this year come at a difficult time for the nearly $3 trillion industry; some pension funds have openly questioned what value hedge funds add to a portfolio in light of their hefty fee structure. Hedge funds typically charge 2 percent of assets under management and 20 percent of performance, which means that managers can still haul home multimillion-dollar paydays even when they lose money for their investors.

Hedge funds were hurt, in part, because they piled into many of the same companies — often known as “hedge fund hotels” because of their popularity among hedge fund managers — that suffered sharp declines in shares later in the year. Among them were SunEdison, Williams Companies, Cheniere Energy and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, which drew negative publicity for steep increases in some drug prices....

[Proserpina]

11. The Effort to Divert Class War Into Generational War: Lessons On Economics You Won’t Get from Jeff B

http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/the-effort-to-divert-class-war-into-generational-war-lessons-on-economics-you-won-t-get-from-jeff-bezos

Catherine Rampell devoted her column today to a popular Washington pastime: trying to get young people angry at their parents and grandparents so that they are not bothered by the enormous upward redistribution of income taking place in this country.

She begins the piece by telling readers that college students are wasting their time complaining about diversity issues and sensitivity to racism and sexism, then gets to the meat of the story:

“Older generations have racked up trillions in debt and stuck young people with the bill. This is not just due to expensive wars, unfunded tax cuts, Keynesian financial interventions and the other usual scapegoats for fiscal profligacy.

“One of the largest ongoing sources of spending involves huge age-specific transfers: Our politicians are paying off older, higher-voter-turnout Americans in the form of generous benefits that those older people have not paid for and never will. Which means the tab will need to be picked up by someone else — i.e., someone younger.

“For example, a married couple with a single breadwinner who earned the average wage his whole life and turned 65 this year will collect more than six times as much in net Medicare benefits as the couple paid out in taxes. That’s after taking into account both Medicare premiums and other ways the couple could have invested their payroll tax money.

“'Invincible' youngsters are subsidizing health care for their not-yet-Medicare- eligible elders on the individual insurance market as well. And elsewhere on government balance sheets, spending on the old is crowding out spending on the young. At the state level, politicians have responded to swelling pension obligations by disinvesting from public higher education. These funding cuts have then been offset with massive tuition hikes — which fall to, you guessed it, today’s college students.

“Fiscal issues of course aren’t the only way that young people have been done wrong by their elders. The warming of our planet and some politicians’ promises to undermine what small progress has been made to curb climate change also come to mind.”

There is so much wrong here that it hard to know where to begin. Let’s start with an easy one, the story of Medicare and Social Security...



more

[Proserpina]

12. Puerto Rico governor: U.S. backtracking on island's independence

http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-puertorico-status-idUSL1N14H0PY20151228

The United States is backtracking from its historic position acknowledging Puerto Rico's right to self-governance, Puerto Rico's governor says in a pending U.S. Supreme Court case over so-called double jeopardy laws...In a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released on Sunday, Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said Washington is reversing a decades-old understanding that Puerto Rico, while a U.S. commonwealth, governs through its own constitution. The case plays out against a massive debt restructuring in Puerto Rico and could be a political lightning rod on an island where commonwealth status is the key issue dividing political parties.

A 1950 agreement "emphasized that under the Puerto Rico constitution, the political power of the commonwealth emanates from the people and shall be exercised in accordance with their will," Garcia Padilla wrote in the letter. It came in response to a friend-of-the-court brief filed by U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli in a Supreme Court case over whether Puerto Rico can prosecute people for crimes of which they have already been convicted in federal court. Verrilli argued that unlike states, Puerto Rico is not a separate sovereign, so prosecution would violate double jeopardy laws that ban trying a defendant twice for the same crime in the same jurisdiction.

Puerto Rico could become sovereign "only if it were to attain statehood or become an independent nation," the United States argued.

The U.S. Congress is divided on whether and how the federal government should step in to help Puerto Rico sort out $70 billion in debt, while the island's financial creditors have been resistant to voluntary cuts on repayments. The Supreme Court case is not directly related to the debt crisis, nor to a separate pending Supreme Court case over whether the island can enact local bankruptcy laws to help it enforce cuts on creditors. Still, the dispute highlights one of the key political issues at the center of Puerto Rico's restructuring: the nature of its relationship with the United States.

Puerto Rican leaders who support statehood, like Pedro Pierluisi, the island's representative in Congress, say the solicitor general's brief captures the problem with territory status. "Any lingering illusions about Puerto Rico's status should be shattered" in light of Verrilli's brief, Pierluisi said in a statement. "Puerto Rico is a territory - an undemocratic, unequal and undignified status."

Garcia Padilla - a member of the party that opposes statehood for Puerto Rico - believes the island can be independent as a commonwealth.

[Proserpina]

13. Puerto Rico’s Debt Trap

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/puerto-rico-debt-crisis-by-simon-johnson-2015-12

The Caribbean island of Puerto Rico – the largest United States “territory” – is broke, and a human calamity is unfolding there. Unless a constructive course of political action is found in 2016, Puerto Rican migration to the 50 states will rival the scale of the 1930s Dust Bowl exodus from Oklahoma, Arkansas, and other climate-devastated states. With public debt service (principal plus interest) projected to reach nearly 40% of government revenue in 2016, Puerto Rico needs a new set of economic policies. But austerity will not work; this must be an investment-led recovery, with official measures oriented toward boosting growth by reducing the cost of doing business. The question is whether Puerto Rico will have that option. Much of its $73 billion debt has been issued by government corporations. But, though federal law allows such municipal debt to be restructured under Chapter 9 of the bankruptcy code in all 50 states, this does not apply to US territories like Puerto Rico. As a result, a protracted series of confusing legal battles and selective defaults looms. The cost of essential infrastructure services – electricity, water, sewers, and transportation – will go up while quality declines.

One response has been to demand further belt-tightening, for example, in the form of wage reductions and healthcare cuts. But residents of Puerto Rico are also US citizens and they vote with their feet – the population has fallen from 3.9 million to 3.5 million in recent years as talented and energetic people have moved to Florida, Texas, and other parts of the mainland. The more creditors insist on lower living standards and higher taxes, the more the tax base will simply leave the island – causing bondholders’ losses to rise. Disorganized defaults by public corporations will make it hard for any part of the private credit system to function.

Leading conservatives in the US – including at the Hoover Institution – have long argued in favor of using established bankruptcy procedures when large financial firms fail. The same logic applies here: A judge can remove any doubt that actual insolvency exists, while also ensuring that credit remains available during a restructuring. During that process, a judge can rely on precedent and ensure fairness across creditor classes based on the precise terms under which loans were obtained.

Although congressional Republicans have so far refused to allow for a judge-supervised bankruptcy process, bipartisan agreement remains possible. Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren, and Charles E. Schumer have proposed legislation that would introduce a stay on creditor lawsuits until March 31, 2016. No one, including Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, Chair of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, believes that debt restructuring by itself will bring back growth; but extending Chapter 9 of the bankruptcy code to Puerto Rico would help...

more

[Proserpina]

14. DoJ shuts down asset forfeiture program after Congress slashes its budget

http://boingboing.net/2015/12/27/doj-shuts-down-asset-forfeitur.html

In America, your belongings can be confiscated by the police without warrant or evidence as proceeds of a crime, and then the government sues your possessions (not you), in lawsuits like "Township of East Bumblefuck vs $50,000 in $100 bills."

If your goods lose the lawsuit, the police get to keep them, and use them (or sell them for operating capital). Police departments waxed fat on this, even making up "shopping lists" of desirable cars, etc, to target.

States have been trying to curb this practice, changing state law so that law enforcement agencies wouldn't get to keep the stuff their seized. But the DoJ wouldn't play along, meaning that cops could still keep stuff by confiscating it under federal, not state law.

Attempts to get the DoJ to play along have proved fruitless. After all, the DoJ got to split the take with local law-enforcement.. So in last week's budget bill, Congress took $1.2 billion away from the DoJ, money that they used to administer the program. Without that subsidy, the program became a money-loser. It is dead.

It's unclear how much of the total national forfeiture haul will be affected by the DOJ's change, since many states don't make their forfeiture data public. But as the case of California shows, it is potentially significant: In that state in 2013, nearly eight out of every 10 dollars of forfeited property went through federal law. Under this change, that flow of cash would be shut off.

Some law enforcement groups are less than happy with the change. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) said in a statement that "this decision is detrimental to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve."

In a letter sent to President Obama, the leaders of Congress, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the heads of six law enforcement groups -- including the IACP and the National District Attorney's Association -- wrote to express "profound concern" over the changes: "This shortsighted decision by Congress will have a significant and immediate impact on the ability of law enforcement agencies throughout the nation to protect their communities and provide their citizens with the services they expect and deserve."

The Justice Department just shut down a huge asset forfeiture program.

[Proserpina]

15. Let the revels commence!

After a word from our employers....gotta go!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report, December 31, 2015

Source: U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration

Read More: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/eta20152493.pdf

News Release
Connect with DOL at http://blog.dol.gov

TRANSMISSION OF MATERIALS IN THIS RELEASE IS EMBARGOED UNTIL 8:30 A.M. (Eastern) Thursday, December 31, 2015

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA

In the week ending December 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 287,000, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 267,000. The 4-week moving average was 277,000, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 272,500.

There were no special factors impacting this week's initial claims.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.6 percent for the week ending December 19, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 19 was 2,198,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 2,195,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,220,250, an increase of 9,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 2,211,000.
....

UNADJUSTED DATA
....

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending December 12 was 2,336,519, an increase of 80,311 from the previous week. There were 2,541,033 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2014.