by Calculated Risk on 4/13/2022 09:46:00 PM

Thursday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  The consensus is for a increase to 175 thousand from 166 thousand last week.

• At 8:30 AM, Retail sales for March is scheduled to be released.  The consensus is for a 0.6% increase in retail sales. 

• At 10:00 AM, University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index (Preliminary for April).

On COVID (focus on hospitalizations and deaths):

COVID Metrics
	Now	Week Ago	Goal
Percent fully Vaccinated	65.8%	---	≥70.0%1
Fully Vaccinated (millions)	218.5	---	≥2321
New Cases per Day3🚩	29,401	26,563	≤5,0002
Hospitalized3	9,674	10,590	≤3,0002
Deaths per Day3	452	517	≤502
1 Minimum to achieve "herd immunity" (estimated between 70% and 85%). 2my goals to stop daily posts, 37-day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths 🚩 Increasing 7-day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths ✅ Goal met.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7-day average (line) of deaths reported.

Hospitalizations and deaths are declining.

New cases are increasing.