Continuing claims surprised the market with a big jump for the week ending November 26th, according to the weekly survey from the Department of Labor.
- Seasonally adjusted insured unemployment jumped to 1,671,000, an increase of 62,000 from the previous week’s revised level and the highest level since the end of February.
- Economists thought claims were going to fall to 1.6M.
Jobless Claims. Initial Jobless claims rose as expected but continuing claims saw an unexpected jump, according to the weekly survey from the Department of Labor.
- Seasonally adjusted initial claims were 230,000 for the week ending December 2nd, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level and the highest level since the end of August.
- Economists hit the nail on the head projecting claims would rise to 230k.
States. California reported the biggest jump with over 16,000 new claims more than double the closest state. New York took the number two spot with just over 9k new claims followed by Texas (+7,904), Georgia(+7,576), and Pennsylvania (+3,150).
BOTTOM LINE: We’ve been looking for any sign of a softening labor market and we may have just found it.