Does it seem fishy to you?  All of sudden in February, we start hearing positive economic news?  Could this possibly be the power of “incumbency?”

Obama’s economic team (using the term loosely) has a lot of ground to make up, but they’re starting early!  Here’s today’s economic report:

“The number of Americans filing first- time claims for unemployment insurance payments unexpectedly declined last week, indicating the labor market recovery is gaining traction.

Applications for jobless benefits decreased 15,000 in the week ended Feb. 4 to 358,000, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 370,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The four-week moving average, a less-volatile measure of claims, declined to 366,250, the lowest since April 26, 2008.

The easing of dismissals is moving in tandem with a drop in theunemployment rate, which fell in January to a three-year low of 8.3 percent. Job creation also accelerated last month, showing the world’s largest economy is making headway in restoring the 8.3 million jobs lost during the 2007-2009 recession.

“The recent positive momentum over the past two months is being sustained,” said Millan Mulraine, a senior U.S. strategist at TD Securities in New York, who projected 360,000 claims. “If we stay within this range, then we should see employment growth pick up.”

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Filed under: Economy, Featured, Inside The KC, Politics by Sonja Eddings Brown, Feb 9, 2012