The Labor Department’s report on weekly jobless claims is out and the report showed a drop of 5,000 to 359,000 for the prior week. Bloomberg had estimates of 350,000 and Dow Jones was calling for a gain of 2,000.
One problem is that the previous week was revised to 364,000 from 348,000 and that means that breaking the 350,000 barrier was a mirage rather than an accomplishment. This is said to be due to adjustments that go back years now.
These numbers are still far better (or far less-bad) than they had been in prior months. Still, these alone are not enough to truly fix a weak labor market despite the drop in the official unemployment rate.
Another consideration is the army of unemployed measured with a one-week lag in the continuing jobless claims. This figure fell by 41,000 to 3,340,000 in today’s report.
All in all, this is a net neutral reading because it is not far enough ahead of or under estimates to make a huge impact. We will get one more look next week at weekly claims before next Friday’s unemployment reading and data on non-farm payrolls.
JON C. OGG
Take This Retirement Quiz To Get Matched With An Advisor Now (Sponsored)
Are you ready for retirement? Planning for retirement can be overwhelming, that’s why it could be a good idea to speak to a fiduciary financial advisor about your goals today.
Start by taking this retirement quiz right here from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes. Smart Asset is now matching over 50,000 people a month.
Click here now to get started.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Editors' Picks
