Trading Today's Jobless Claims Numbers (BAC, FAS, C, JPM, GS)

Today we're going to see the release of the initial and continuing jobless claims for the weeks ending February 26, and February 19, respecitvely.

Initial claims are expected to rise to 400,000, up from the week prior of 391,000.  Continuing claims are expected to rise slighlty to 3.8 million, up from 3.79 million. 

If the claims continue their trend, and come in better than expected, we could see a pop in the futures, especially the financials, which have been beaten down hard recently.

Traders can do this by going long names like Bank of America BAC, Citigroup C, J.P. Morgan JPM, or Goldman Sachs GS.  Traders can leverage it by going long the Direxion Financial Bull 3X ETF FAS if they believe that the numbers will come in better than expected. 

The numbers are going to be released at 8:30 a.m.

Futures are up sharply this morning going into the release of the numbers.  Dow futures are up 88 points, S&P futures are up 12 points, and Nasdaq futures are better by 20 points.