Jobless claims hit lowest point in five years

By Jason Lange
WASHINGTON - Factory activity grew the most in nearly two years in January and the number of new claims for jobless benefits dropped to a five-year low last week, giving surprisingly strong signals on the economy's pulse. Full Article


The S&P finally went over 1500 this morning, and the Dow is looking at 14,000, which would be an all-time high.

So I guess the recovery does have some gas now. Presumably unemployment figures will start to drop soon.

I am still worried about Europe: Britain just threatened to leave the EU, and while Cameron put his referendum five years out and hedged it around with a lot of barriers, the Europeans were so angry that it's clear they believe England leaving would break up the European Union --- and presumably the global financial system, at least for awhile.

Any other concerns? I'd say the debt limit, but that is unsolved and yet the stock market is soaring, so I guess no one is actually worried about that. They'll kick the can down the road, as usual.