Jobless Claims Heading Wrong Way, No Help For Unemployment Friday

The U.S. Labor Department has issued its coverage of weekly jobless claims.  There may be some volatility due to the report being around the Thanksgiving holiday week, but the figures are disappointing and they are actually back above the 400,000 mark.  These figures are seasonally adjusted.

Claims came in at 402,000 versus a Bloomberg consensus estimate of 393,000.  The range from economists was 385,000 to 405,000.  The prior week’s reading was adjusted to 396,000 from a preliminary figure of 393,000.

Today’s news is disappointing that it went back over 400,000.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, it is not likely to alter many expectations for Friday’s unemployment rate for November.  Bloomberg is expecting non-Farm Payrolls to come in at 116,000 versus a prior reading in October of 80,000 and against a range of 70,000 to 150,000.  The November Unemployment Rate is expected to come in at 9.0%, which would be the same as it was in October.

JON C. OGG