The U.S. Department of Labor released the numbers for weekly jobless claims Thursday morning. The figure remains virtually unchanged, totaling 298,000. That was only 1,000 less than the previous reading of 299,000. Bloomberg’s consensus estimate of economists called for a reading of 300,000, and the range of individual estimates was 295,000 to 303,000.
The four-week moving average was recorded at 299,750, which was down 1,250 from the previous week’s average at 301,000. This is continuing a gradual downward trend since last December.
Continuing jobless claims rose by 25,000, but the four-week moving average is down 4,000 to 2.524 million. These continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics continued its trend of not listing any special factors in this report that would impact this week’s jobless claims. This should reaffirm expectations that August will post an improvement in the employment report.
In a separate report released Thursday, real gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter was revised upward to 4.2%, above the Bloomberg estimate of 4.0%.
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