by Calculated Risk on 12/29/2021 08:18:00 PM

Thursday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  Initial claims were 205 thousand last week.

• At 9:45 AM: Chicago Purchasing Managers Index for December.

And on COVID (focus on hospitalizations and deaths):

COVID Metrics
	Today	Week Ago	Goal
Percent fully Vaccinated	61.9%	---	≥70.0%1
Fully Vaccinated (millions)	205.6	---	≥2321
New Cases per Day3🚩	277,241	162,133	≤5,0002
Hospitalized3🚩	64,756	61,570	≤3,0002
Deaths per Day3	1,085	1,227	≤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 positive tests reported.