Weekly jobless claims in the US increased by 6k to 260k the week that ended July 30th, slightly beating market estimates of 259k, with notable decreases in Massachusetts (-6,934), and Ohio (-1,801), while claims rose significantly in Connecticut (+7,095).
Although such a reading does not seem to be significant, other components of the report indicate the deteriorating condition of the US labor market.
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Create account Try a demo Download mobile app Download mobile appContinuing Jobless Claims reading, which lags initial jobless claims data by one week, increased to 1416k in the week ending July 23 from 1368k in the previous week. This means that the number of people who are constantly receiving unemployment benefits is rising.
The 4-week moving average, which removes week-to-week volatility, was at 254,75, an increase of 6 thousand from the previous week’s downwardly revised average of 248,750. This is the highest level of the year and it is worth remembering in the context of tomorrow's NFP report. The 4-week moving average tends to act as a leading indicator of the labour market, as the number of claims often rise in advance of the unemployment rate moving higher.
The 4-week moving average jumped to the highest in 8 months,while Continuing claims continue to creep higher. Source: Bloomberg via ZeroHedge
