Recession May Be Easing Up

First-time jobless benefit claims (as in, the number of people recently laid off applying for unemployment) fell more than expected for the second week in a row, and three big banks reported either a profit or losses less bad than predicted.

Housing construction (including apartments) is near a 50-year low, but the construction of single-family homes in March remained stable.

Goldman Sachs said this week that jobless claims usually peak “six to ten weeks before the end of recession,” so economists are watching unemployment numbers carefully.