[US DATA WATCH]

[US DATA WATCH] The slate turns ultra-light for Thursday, with only weekly jobless claims data of note. New claims the for week ending July 24th are forecast to dip by 4K to 460K level That would be lowest level since Aug-2008 but the 4-week avg at around 456K remains above its pre-Lehman bust level, indicating still sub-par hiring conditions that can bring down unemployment in a big way, with very long-haul back to pre-recession levels. About 100K jobs need to be created every month just to keep up with growth in the labor force. Moreover, the avg duration of those employed is at a record high while the so-called underemployment rate is nearly 17% vs the regular jobless rate at 9.5%. Fed its its June FOMC minutes showed its slightly upped its core forecasts for the jobless rate to 9.2-9.5% this year and to 8.3 to 8.7% for 2011. A few private forecasters see risk of seeing 10% again