Initial Claims Rise to Highest Levels Since Mid July

Due in part (but not wholly) to disruptions caused by Hurricane Isaac, initial jobless claims for the latest week rose to their highest level (382K) since mid-July and were well above the consensus forecast of 370K.  Making matters worse, last week's claims reading was also revised slightly higher from 365K to 367K.  Interestingly, as pointed out by zerohedge earlier, there has not been a single week in 2012 where claims have been revised lower.

Because of the increase and the upward revisions, the four week moving average of jobless claims rose from 371.8K to 375K, which was also the highest level since mid-July.  This now marks the 24th straight week where claims have not made a new post-recession low, and it is the second longest streak since the recession ended in mid 2009.

Perhaps the one bright spot of this morning's report was the non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) claims number.  In the latest week NSA claims fell from 309.5K down to 297.4K.  For the current week, this is the lowest reading since 2007 and below the average of 315.3K for the current week going back to 2000.

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