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(Image Source: Bloomberg)
BY MATTHEW PICHT
The U.S. Labor Department’s weekly unemployment report is raising a few eyebrows.
CNN reports.
“A four-year low for the number of jobless
claims filed last week. 350,000 unemployment claims were filed. That’s 26,000 fewer than
expected, the lowest since 2008.”
The unemployment report is a closely watched indicator
of economic health. A low number of new jobless claims is good news for the economy. In addition
to the steep dive in new unemployment filings, total unemployment claims dipped slightly
from 3.32 million to 3.3 million.
But as Bloomberg notes, this report comes
with a caveat: summertime manufacturing closures have traditionally led to unbalanced unemployment
reports.
“This is the time of year when, not only the auto plants but a lot of
textile factories, those that still exist, are supposed to be closing, and aren’t.
350,000, but the Labor Department expects that to unwind.”
And Fox Business points
out, weekly jobless claims are always subject to change.
“So when you look at the
numbers since March of 2011, we’ve seen upward revisions on all of these weekly jobless
claims. 70 out of the 71 weeks, so we want to keep an eye on that overall trend line.”
Meanwhile,
CNBC’s Rick Santelli answers the question on everyone’s mind:
“HAS IT CHANGED
THE COMPLEXION OF THE MARKET? No. We’re still down about the same amount, in the 70’s
in Dow futures, about 8 ½ points in the S&P futures.”
The positive jobless report
comes after last week's disappointing news that only 80,000 new jobs were added in June.