The Labor Department showed that weekly claims were down by a whopping 32,000 to 300,000 in the week ending April 5. Bloomberg had the estimate at 318,000, and the report was even better than the lowest economic expectation of 310,000 for the week.
Another measurement of improvement, the four-week average, fell by 4,750 to 316,250. Even continuing claims came down by 62,000 to 2.776 million. This is what we call the army of the unemployed, although it is tallied up with a one-week lag.
What may stand out more than anything is that this is the first real solid employment number in a while. Yellen and other Fed presidents have talked down the jobs recovery as being a weak one that is not characteristic of prior recoveries. The intent likely is to keep stimulus alive.
Equities were mixed right after the open on likely profit-taking, but that is after a big snap-back recovery this week. The S&P 500 was down almost two points and the DJIA was up five points.
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