US initial jobless claims 230K vs 240K estimate.

<ul><li><a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/us-initial-jobless-claims-239k-vs-240k-estimate-20230817/" target="_blank" rel="follow">Prior</a> week 239K revised to 240K</li><li>Initial jobless claims 230K vs 240K estimate</li><li>4-week moving average initial jobless claims 236.75K vs 234.50K last week .</li><li>Continuing claims 1,702M vs 1.708M estimate</li><li>Prior week continuing jobless claims 1.716M revised to 1.711M</li><li>4-week moving average for continuing jobless claims 1.6973M vs 1.692M last week.</li><li>The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 12 were in Virginia (+940), Iowa (+860), Illinois
(+769), Hawaii (+664), and Arkansas (+388), </li><li>The largest decreases were in California (-3,959), Texas (-1,641),
Pennsylvania (-1,155), Michigan (-1,129), and New York (-963)</li></ul><p>The continual pain claims are moving lower. I don't know about you, but I think that BLS can and should adjust their scales on both their initial jobless claims and continuing claims charts? What do you think?</p><p>But… the data is indicative of an employment market that is not weakening. Although GDP is lower than a year ago at Jackson Hole and inflation is lower as well, the US unemployment rate is the exact same as it was one year ago at 3.5% and moreover near all-time low levels. That will keep the Fed on hold for an extended period of time at best and could lead to higher rates as well if inflation picks up.</p><p>. </p>

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.