Solid Weekly Jobless Claims Report From the Labor Department

Weekly jobless claims fell 11,000 in the July 5 week to 304,000. Bloomberg was calling for the number to be flat at 315,000. The number may seem much better, but again it is considered a slight beat in rounding terms.

Also falling was the four-week average, down some 3,500 to 311,500. Continuing claims, what we call the army of the unemployed and reported with a one-week lag, managed to rise by 10,000 to 2.584 million. Still, its four-week average was down 8,000 to a post-recovery low of 2.571 million.

The unemployment rate for insured workers was unchanged last week at 2.0%.

While no unusual factors altered this report very much, the Labor Department did signal that the July 4 holiday will remain a factor, as will the annual auto sector retooling.

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