The U.S. Department of Labor released weekly jobless claims a day early this week due to the holiday. Initial unemployment claims were recorded at 280,000. Bloomberg had a consensus estimate of 290,000 claims. The prior week’s reading remained unrevised at 289,000.
The four-week moving average decreased by 8,500 to 290,250. The previous level also remained unrevised, at 298,750 claims. This continues a streak of the four-week moving average for initial claims staying below the 300,000 level, which has not been seen since 2000.
The report said that there were no special factors that had an impact on this week’s reported claims.
The Labor Department also reported that the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.8% for the week ending December 13. This reading was unchanged from the rate in the previous week.
Continuing claims, which are reported with a one-week lag, increased by 25,000 to 2.4 million. The previous level was revised upward to 2.378 million from 2.373 million claims.
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