The U.S. Labor Department is out with another solid report on weekly jobless claims. There remains a debate about whether the large growth in payrolls is over, but the claims were a mere 259,000 on a seasonally adjusted reporting basis. Bloomberg and Dow Jones (via the Wall Street Journal) were calling for a consensus of 265,000 in the week.

Last week’s figure was revised to 256,000 from 255,000, and that was the cycle low not seen in years and years. As usual, the Bureau of Labor Statistics signaled that no special factors had an impact on this last week’s initial claims.

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs on an unadjusted basis was down 23,567 to 232,883 in the week ending October 17.

The four-week moving average was down 2,000 to 263,250 and was shown to be the lowest level for this average since December 15, 1973. The previous week’s average was revised up by 250 from 265,000 to 265,250.

Continuing claims come with a one-week lag and is what 24/7 Wall St. refers to as the army of the unemployed. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment was up 6,000 to 2,170,000. The previous week’s level was revised up 6,000 to 2,164,000.

Until weekly jobless claims start showing a real directional change, these reports likely will be ignored for the most part by the financial markets.

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