Patrick Fearon Level Quotations

We did have a modest upward revision in the previous week's claims, but we remain under the psychologically important 400,000 level and that's definitely something that we've been looking for.

We're getting close to the weekly level of new claims that was typical of the months leading up to the late-summer hurricanes and the spike in energy prices.

Companies are reaping the benefit of enhancements in technology discovery, which has helped them increase their productivity. At the same time, there is a level of competition in the economy that is quite a bit stronger than it has been in the past.

The ISM manufacturing index came in at a decent level in January, just slightly below expectations, but still high enough to suggest that the manufacturing sector is expanding at a steady-as-she-goes pace.

The drop in jobless claims is a darn good number. A number in the range of 325,000 to 350,000 is a level that is more consistent with healthy economic growth,

This level still looks like companies are happy with their current work force, and they are being relatively stingy about keeping their workers -- they don't seem to want to lose too many.