Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims

Last weeks initial unemployment claims were released today.  Initial claims are the number of persons who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time in the past week.  This is an indicator of economic health as if the number declines week over week it is a sign that employers are hiring or unemployment is slowing down.  The forecast called for 421k initial claims, but the actual headline number came in at 420k. If our delta continues to hold up though, this is a disappointment because you need to add 3k to the number.  It is too early to tell whether we met or beat the prior weeks number.

Revisions remain relatively steady allowing us to add about 2 to 3k to any headline number that is released.