Weekly Jobless Claims Smoothing Out Recent Volatility
For the week ended on January 31, initial jobless claims came in above the previously revised reading but were less than the Bloomberg consensus estimate.
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The four-week moving average was recorded at approximately 292,750, which was a decrease of only 6,500 from the previous reading of 299,250 claims. The number of claims fell below the 300,000 level in late July and only rose above it again in January. This was, for a while, the longest that the four-week moving average had remained below the 300,000 level since 2000.
The most recent initial claims reading appears to be smoothing out some of the short-term volatility that affected the job market following the end of the fourth quarter.
According to the Labor Department, no special factors had an impact on this past week’s reported initial jobless claims.
Continuing claims, which are reported with a one-week lag, increased by 6,000 to 2.4 million for the week that ended January 24.
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Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics. Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications. A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.