Salient to Investors:

Julia Coronado at BNP Paribas says Q2 growth is going to be slower than Q1 as the sequester and budget cuts restrain, and core inflation starting to decelerate reflects a lack of purchasing power: Coronado said any discussion of Fed reducing QE will be postponed.

David Sloan at 4Cast said housing permits suggest the housing momentum will resume.

The increase in jobless claims last week exceeded all forecasts of 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The median projection called for a rise to 330,000. Estimates ranged from 315,000 to 355,000. The Labor Department revised the previous week’s figure to 328,000 from an initially reported 323,000.

Gennadiy Goldberg at TD Securities said the layoff situation is positive as employers are not very keen to fire workers but are keen to reduce hours.

Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-16/jobless-claims-in-u-s-jump-to-highest-level-in-six-weeks.html

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