• For the week ending July 7, the number of new claims for unemployment were down, but economy-watchers said that probably was only because car companies are not shutting down this summer – a good signal – and so claims were lower than the seasonal norm.
• Numbers out from CoreLogic showed 11.4 million U.S. homes were under water at the end of the first quarter of 2012, which was 23.7% of properties with outstanding mortgages. At the end of 2011 Q4, it was 25.2%.
• Overseas news remained normal, which is to say gloomy. China's growth is slowing and Italy's bond rating was lowered.

From the article:

The U.S. Department of Labor reported a surprisingly large drop in the number of initial unemployment claims on Thursday. The number of claims fell 26,000 to 350,000 for the week ending July 7. The less-volatile four-week average was also down 9,750, to 376,500. ...