Another Solid Week for Jobless Claims

The U.S. Labor Department has released its tally on weekly jobless claims, and the figure rose by 2,000 to 304,000. The prior week’s reading was revised higher to 302,000 from 300,000.

Dow Jones was calling for 315,000 and Bloomberg was calling for 312,000. Keep in mind that last week’s drop was initially 32,000 and was the best reading since the recession. No special factors were included or excluded from the report.

The four-week average of weekly claims fell to 312,000 claims. This was the lowest reading since late in 2007, as well as a post-recession record.

Continuing unemployment benefit claims, the army of unemployed (measured with a one-week lag) were down by 11,000 to 2.739 million. This is also a post-recession low, going back to late in 2007 as well.

Equity futures have moved into positive territory: S&P 500 futures are now up two points and DJIA futures are now up close to 10 points.