US DATA: Initial jobless claims -15k to 372k SA for holiday wk (375k
expected); was lowest since Dec 17 wk with prv wk rev up to 387K. NSA
claims went up 37,423 to 535,112 and Labor analyst warns of much
volatility in the holidays period. Says check trend of 4-wk ave, which
was down 3,250 to 373,250 adjusted in latest wk. Continuinig claims SA
-22K to 3,595,000. Otherwise, three states estimated, with Calif and Va
doing their own partial estimates and Hawaii being estimated at Labor
HQ. Other than the Monday holiday in the wk, nothing unusual, analyst
says. SA insured unemp rate down a tenth to 2.8%.