Weekly Jobless Claims Still Closing in on 400K
The U.S. Labor Department has released the latest report of weekly jobless claims. After the claims had been trending in the wrong direction in prior weeks, this preliminary claims report came out at 382,000. Bloomberg had estimates of 373,000 and…
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Another note was the revisions from last week’s report. The prior report was 382,000 and the revision was raised to 385,000, but that figure still reflects some claims around Hurricane Isaac.
Two other items are the four-week average to smooth out the weekly data and also the army of unemployed measured by the continuing claims, with a one week lag. The four-week average rose 2,000 to 377,750 and the continuing claims fell by 32,000 to 3.272 million.
Bloomberg’s definition: New unemployment claims are compiled weekly to show the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time. An increasing (decreasing) trend suggests a deteriorating (improving) labor market. The four-week moving average of new claims smooths out weekly volatility.
JON C. OGG
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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.
