The latest monthly jobs report is out, and is sucks wet farts from dead pigeons. Only 68,000 new jobs were created, the March and April numbers were revised down to 78K, the unemployment rate (U-3) went up by a a tenth of a point to 8.2% (U-6 rose by .3% to 14.8%), and long term unemployment rose.

Note that while the private sectors payroll was a “Meh” +87K, but government payrolls fell by 19,000.

So, while we American governmental entities aren’t going austerity crazy like the Brits, we are kind of slow walking austerity. (Something that Obama’s campaign seems to be bragging about)

The Institute for Supply Management’s latest manufacturing index is headed in the wrong direction as well.

But at least we’re not Yurp which sucks a lot worseworse, with Euro zone unemployment climing to 11%. (Thanks Angela)

And basically it’s the same-old same-old with initial claims hanging around at the 370K doldrums.

Additionally, we have mixed news in other metrics, with capital equipment orders and the purchasing managers index falling, while consumer confidence and durable goods orders rose.

Initial claims were flat.

All the numbers were basically in a holding pattern.

So, not awful, but still in a kind of a sucky place.

This week, everything improved, but only marginally.

Meh.

And it’s good news, with initial claims falling by 27K to 365,000, beating estimates, and continuing and extended claims fell as well, though the less volatile 4-week moving average rose.

The real news on the economy though is the fact that Euro zone unemployment  hit a record high:

Rising unemployment and plunging business confidence in the euro area revealed the increasingly fragile state of the region’s economy on Wednesday, as voters in France and Greece prepare to deliver their verdict on austerity in Sunday elections.

Official figures showed that unemployment across the 17-member single currency zone increased by 169,000 in March, for the 11th consecutive month, to hit 17.37m. The unemployment rate was 10.9%, the highest level in its history.

Even in Germany, which has so far largely escaped unscathed from the downturn sweep of the labour market, unemployment began to tick up in March, though it remained at just 5.6% of the workforce.

There was also evidence that businesses are being hit by what many analysts expect to be a eurozone-wide recession. The manufacturing PMI for the zone in April – a measure of confidence among businesses – registered a sharp decline, from 47.7 to 45.9, the lowest since June 2009, and well below the 50 mark which signals growth.

BTW, in the US, consumer confidence to a 2 month low.

To quote Bette Davis, “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.”

And the news remains bad, initial claims fell by only 1000 to a too-damn-high 388,000, with the 4 week moving average and continuing claims rising, though extended claims fell a bit.

Furthermore, we saw durable goods orders cratering.  They fell 4% in March.

As I mused earlier, I think that a lot of the good numbers in the 1^st quarter were economic activity moving up because of a historically mild winter.

More good news on the jobless front, 357K initial jobless claims, which is a bit less than last week, though primarily because last weeks numbers were revised upward a bit.

Still decent numbers.

Another really good week, with initial jobless claims falling 5,000 to 359,000, (well sort of, last week’s numbers were revised up from 348K to 364 K, so apples to apples is a little bump up), with the 4 week moving average fell 3,500 to 365K, with continuing claims falling by 41K to 3.34 million, and extended claims fell 79K to 3.24 million.

Of course, there is a proverbial turd in the punch bowl in all of this, which is that all of these figures are seasonably adjusted, and we’ve had the mildest winter in the United States pretty much ever so we might be seeing a lot or economic activity that would normally be in April or May.

I guess we’ll find out then.

The best numbers in 4 years, initial claims fell 5K to 348K, the 4 week moving average fell to 355K, and both continuing and extended claims fell.

Unambiguously good news.

And we have some pretty good news, 351,000 initial claims, with the less volatile 4-week moving average unchanged, but continuing and extended claims rose a bit.

It matches a 4 week low.

And it was not particularly good news.

Initial claims rose by by 8,000 to 362,000, 10,000 more than forecast, with the less volatile 4-week moving average rising by 250, continuing claims rising by 10K to 3.42 million, and extended claims rose 26.8K to 3.4 million.

Not great news, but still better than it was 6 months ago.

We should be getting the official NFP numbers tomorrow, but the ADP numbers were pretty good.

Of course, “pretty good” still means that we are looking at a decade before we return to trend.

351,000 initial claims this week, with the 4-week moving average falling to 354K, as did continuing claims, though emergency claims rose slightly.

Generally decent news, but if it stays at this level, we are looking at more than a decade below trend.

We had some more good news on the unemployment front. Initial claims were down by another 10K, and continuing claims.

There is still a part of me that does not believe the good news though.

Defying forecasts, initial claims fell last week, with the 4-week moving average falling to an almost 3 year low, though continuing claims rose.

Good news, I just hope that this isn’t just a temporary blip.