US DATA: Initial jobless claims down 2k to 351k in Feb 25 week,
slightly below expectations of 355k. Claims in the prev wk rev up to
353k vs 351k originally. Labor analyst said nothing unusual in the
report and no states were estimated. Seasonal factors expected NSA
claims to fall by about 13,399 but actual NSA decline was 14,717 to
331,906. 4-wk moving avg -5.5k to 354k in Feb 25 wk, low since 351k in
the March 15, 2008 wk. Cont. claims -2k to 3.402m in Feb 18 employment
survey wk, low since 3.395m in the August 23, 2008 wk. By comparison,
there were 3.567m cont. claims in Jan 14 survey wk.