In slightly positive -- but quite unexpected -- news, new claims for unemployment benefits dropped off last week, hitting their lowest point since the spring. Only 405,000 applied for unemployment in the week ending July 9th, down over 20,000 from the week before and over 15,000 below many economists' expectations. Despite this, the total is still higher than hoped for from periods of job-creation.
See "Claims for jobless benefits fall more than expected", Jeffry Bartash, Los Angeles Times, July 14, 2011