The U.S. Labor Department is out with yet another weekly jobless claims report, but this one was a much better-than-expected surprise. Weekly claims plummeted by 24,000 to 297,000 in the past week. The prior week’s report was revised to 321,000 from a preliminary reading of 319,000.
Bloomberg’s consensus estimate from economists was 317,000, and Dow Jones was calling for a reading of 320,000. The good news is that this was the lowest reading since 2007, and it comes at a time when other, less broad economic reports have been mix-and-match between weak and strong jobs growth. The Labor Department said that there were no special factors influencing this report.
Another boost is that the four-week average fell by 2,000 to 323,250 in the past week.
The continuing jobless claims, the army of the unemployed, fell by 9,000 to 2.667 million. That comes with a one-week lag, but it was also the lowest continuing claims reading going back to the end of 2007.
Investors will have paid closer attention to the Consumer Price Index reading more than a weekly claims reading. That being said, equity futures are still weak after the Walmart earnings report.
READ MORE: Cities With the Most Content (and Miserable) Workers
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.
Latest from 24/7
