Weekly Jobless Claims Hit Nine Month Low
We already saw the rate cut from the European Central Bank this Thursday morning. Now it is time for the U.S. Labor Department’s weekly announcement on jobless claims. The report put the last week’s jobless claims down a sharp 23,000…
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The figure compares to a revised figure from the prior week of 404,000 (compared to a preliminary figure of 402,000) and it compares to a Bloomberg consensus economist estimate of 395,000.
The four-week average was reported as being down by 3,000 to 393,250; and the army of unemployed measured by the continuing jobless claims (with a one-week lag) was reported as being lower by 174,000 to 3.583 million.
This report may still seem high, but it is finally a move in the right direction even if that unemployment rate of 8.6% in November just because of a “lower labor force participation rate” was a highly doctored figure. The bias was expected to be another negative one this morning, but this is at least a move in the right direction. A nine month low is hard to argue against even if it is still not exactly a great figure.
JON C. OGG
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.
