Weekly Jobless Claims Come Over the Top of Estimates

As usual, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that no special factors had an impact on this week’s initial claims.

The four-week moving average moved up 6,000 to 285,000 from the previous reading of 279,000. Previous readings in October were lows in the average that were not seen since the early 2000s.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the previous week was 2.392 million, an increase of 36,000 from the previous week’s revised level. That report on continuing jobless claims comes with a one-week lag.

Thursday’s report may have missed the mark on the surface, but it was close enough to estimates and was under 300,000 by enough that there should be no real panic from the number. That being said, equity futures have continued their slide that started before jobless claims was released.

Claims had been pushing recovery lows for more or less the entire month of October. It was really just a matter of time before they bounced up and showed an increase. The good news is that even though the bounce topped estimates, the level still remains below the 300,000 mark.

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The Employment Situation for October released Friday read as:

• Nonfarm Payrolls 214,000
• Unemployment Rate 5.8%
• Average Hourly Earnings 0.1%
• Average Workweek Hours 34.6 hrs.
• Private Payrolls 209,000