Flip Charts

Initial claims for unemployment benefits:

This morning's announcement from the Department of Labor:
456K new claims for the week ending June 5.
(We need to lose 150K of these, sooner rather than later.)


Home mortgage applications:

"Purchase applications are now 35 percent below their level of four weeks ago, as homebuyers have not yet returned to the market following the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit at the end of April."

--Michael Fratantoni, Vice President of Research and Economics
Mortgage Bankers Association, June 9, 2010


TED spread:

This is an inverse measure of banks' willingness to lend to each other.
(n.b.--higher is scarier)