Forbes: "Thursday's weekly US jobless claims report was all silver lining and no cloud over Wall St"

Wall Street Happy With Small Jobless Rise
Carl Gutierrez, 09.13.07, 9:45 AM ET

Thursday's weekly U.S. jobless claims report was all silver lining and no cloud over Wall Street. The number rose, fueling hopes for an interest-rate cut next week, but by less than had been expected, indicating the dire monthly unemployment report issued last week might have overstated the weakness in the American economy.

On Thursday, the Labor Department announced that initial unemployment claims rose by 4,000, to 319,000, for the week ending on September 8. The increase fell short of Wall Street’s expected total of 325,000.

“On balance this could be characterized as an in-line report with no major surprise, which is what the market’s looking for,” said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jeffries.

Dow Jones industrial futures gained 53 points, or 0.4%, to 13,383. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 4.60, or 0.3%, to 1,480.80, and Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 7.00, or 0.4%, to 2,003.25. The yield on government bonds rose, as prices fell. The 10-year Treasury note yielded 4.42% early Thursday, up from 4.41% late Wednesday. "The pop is because the news doesn’t change anything," Hogan said, "and no news is good news."

http://www.forbes.com/markets/2007/09/13/jobless-claims-federal-markets-equity-cx_cg_0913markets08.html