Going up: Initial unemployment insurance claims for the week ending May 6 increased to 2,652 from the previous week’s total of 2,640, according to the latest data from the Louisiana Workforce Commission. For the comparable week a year ago, 2,825 initial claims were filed. The four-week moving average, the less volatile measure of claims, increased to 2,631 from the previous week’s average of 2,609. Continued unemployment insurance weeks claimed for the week ending May 6, meanwhile, increased to 22,049 from the previous week’s total of 21,914. Continued weeks claimed were below the figure of 22,633 for the comparable week one year ago. Read the full report.
Holding steady: Louisiana’s weekly tally of active oil and gas rigs remains at six, unchanged from last week’s count. Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes says the state currently has 22 more rigs than it had during the comparable week one year ago when the rig count was at 40. Among other oil producing states, eight new rigs came online in Texas, while Wyoming, Ohio, North Dakota and Colorado each gained one new rig this week. New Mexico and Alaska each lost one rig, and Oklahoma lost two. The U.S. rig count continued its climb this week to 885, up eight rigs from last week and 479 one year ago.
For what it’s worth: A single Bitcoin is now worth about $1,843. Bloomberg reports the electronic currency is having quite the run, with a 94% year-to-date gain. The increase in the cost of the massively volatile electronic tokens has led to many comparisons with that other favorite outsider “currency”—gold. By the time the supply of new bitcoins ends, sometime after the year 2110, there will be 21 million bitcoins in digital existence, meaning the total value of all of the electronic tokens that will ever exist, at today’s market price, is just under $39 billion. Baton Rouge recently got it first Bitcoin ATM when New Orleans day trader Willie Hayes installed a Genesis Coin ATM machine at American Market at 5251 Nicholson Drive. The machine provides for a one-directional transaction, allowing users to purchase Bitcoins for cash. Read more.
