News that not news to me…

U.S. jobless claims jumped to their highest level since October while food and energy costs boosted producer prices, pointing lingering headwinds for an economic recovery that had been showing renewed vigor.

[snip]

Despite the more positive outlook for growth in recent weeks, the job market still appeared to be struggling.

The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly to 445,000 from 410,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. It was the biggest one-week jump in about six months, confounding analyst forecasts for a small drop to 405,000.

Confounding… can’t they pick up a local newspaper, or listen to some news. A lot of retail has fired and/or laid off at the beginning of this month. I got laid off from Kroger. This morning, on the radio, I hear Yellow book is laying off, Quiznos (a Colorado based sandwich chain) is laying off, and there has been something new about firing and layoffs in Colorado every week since 1-1-2011.

Confounded… ?