Jobless Claims Stuck in the 380Ks
Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 10:12AM Initial Jobless Claims came in higher than expected today (382K vs 375K), representing the second straight week where claims were above 380K. The fact that claims have had such trouble gaining traction to the downside in recent weeks is a troubling sign for the bulls.
With weekly claims remaining elevated, the four-week average for jobless claims rose for the fifth straight week to 377.8K. After getting within 4K of making a new post-recession low, claims have been trending higher in recent weeks and are now 15K above their post recession low of 363K from 3/30. It has now been 25 weeks since jobless claims made their last post-recession low, which is the second longest streak without making a new low since the recession ended. The longest such streak was 31 weeks last year (March - October), and at the rate things are going now, it is increasingly likely that the current streak will eclipse that.
On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, jobless claims rose by 28K to 327.8K. Although this is a large weekly increase and above the average (326.2K) for the current week going back to 2000, it is still the lowest weekly reading for this particular week since 2007.
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