Jobless Claims Slightly Lower Than Expected

Like just about everything these days (besides bitcoin), there was very little volatility in this week’s jobless claims report as first-time claims fell by 2K to 238K compared to expectations for 240K. There’s not much new to say here as jobless claims continue to be one of the most consistent indicators of strength in the US economy. This week’s print marked the 143rd straight week where claims were below 300K, which is pretty incredible.

Even though this week’s print showed a slight decline, the four-week moving average actually ticked higher rising from 239.75K up to 242.25K. That now puts this reading 11K higher than the multi-decade cycle low of 231.25K that we saw four weeks ago.

The most impressive aspect of this week’s report was the non-seasonally adjusted reading which declined from 274.2K down to 224.2K. For the current week of the year, NSA claims are more than 130K below their average since 2000 and haven’t been this low at this time of year since 1968!