New applications for unemployment benefits dropped to a near four year low in the latest week, according to an article on Bottom Line.

The US Department of Labor announced that, in the week ending January 14, 2012, there was a decrease of 50,000 claims for unemployment from the previous week. Claims were at 352,000 from a revised 402,000 the previous week.

Bottom Line states that the "4-week moving average" is a better indicator of the labor market because it "smooths out the wrinkles in the data".  "The average for the 4 week period was 379,000, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's average of 382,500."

"We have to see if there are some seasonality issues involved here, but on the surface this number looks to be very positive and is pretty much consistent with other data we've seen recently that suggest improvement in underlying fundamentals in the U.S.," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in the article.

Read the full article at Bottom Line@msnbc.com

photo credit: alancleaver_2000

Posted in Real Estate Market Conditions

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