11:00AM New York – The jobless claims declined for the last week but housing starts declined in March.

Job market remains weak as companies continue to lay-off people. The states with rising claims are mostly with industrial sector employment. Michigan led the nation with the largest gains in claims and Texas also saw a spike in claims.

Separately, the Commerce Department reported a sharp fall in housing starts in the month. Since July 2008, housing starts have been declining every month, except in the month of February of this year.

Jobless Claims Fall

For the week ending April 11, the preliminary count of the initial claims of unemployment benefit declined 53,000 to 610,000. The data for the previous week was revised to 663,000. The advanced seasonally adjusted insured unemployment increased 0.1% to 4.5% according to the latest data from the Labor Department.

Nineteen states including California have extended state benefits to the unemployed.

The four week moving average of initial claims declined to 651,000 from 659,500 but still at elevated level and above 600,000 claims.

The number of people claiming benefits in the current fiscal year which began on October last year is now at 4.78 million.

Weak Housing Starts

Housing starts in March declined 10.8% to annual rate of 510,000 from the revised rate of 572,000 in February. The March housing starts plunged 48.4% from a year ago. Single family housing starts declined 16.2% in the month to 358,000.

Building permits in the month for all housing declined 9% to 513,000 and plunged 45% from a year ago. Single family building permits declined 7.4% to 361,000 in the month.

Single family home completions increased 5% to 550,000 from February.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed higher 12.30 or 0.14% to 8,755.26, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong decreased 86.63 or 0.55% closed to 15,582.99, CSI 300 index in China higher 0.12 or 0.00% closed to 2,687.11. ASX 200 index in Australia increased 28.20 or 0.75% closed to 3,775.70. The KL Composite index in Malaysia higher 4.60 or 0.48% closed to 961.28.

The Kospi Index in South Korea increased 3.63 or 0.27% to close at 1,336.72. SET index in Thailand closed lower 0.91 or 0.20% to 452.97 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 31.42 or 1.97% closed to 1,625.09. The Sensex index in India decreased 337.33 or 2.99% closed to 10,947.40.

Europe Markets Review

In London FTSE 100 Index traded higher 45.14 or 1.14% to 4,013.54, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 38.69 or 1.30% to 3,024.43 and in Frankfurt DAX index traded higher 56.23 or 1.24% to 4,606.02. In Zurich trading SMI increased 83.77 or 1.65% to 5,149.20.