US initial jobless claims 248K versus 245K estimate

<ul><li>Last week 239K revised 2236K</li><li>The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims for the week ending July 1 was 248,000, an increase of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level.</li><li>The previous week's level was revised down by 3,000 from 239,000 to 236,000.</li><li>The 4-week moving average was 253,250, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average, which was revised down by 750 from 257,500 to 256,750.</li><li>The advance seasonally adjusted continuing claims for the week ending June 24 was 1,720,000, unchanged from the previous week's rate of 1.2 percent.</li><li>The number of continuing claims decreased by 13,000 from the previous week's revised level, which was revised down by 9,000 from 1,742,000 to 1,733,000.</li><li>The 4-week moving average of continuing claims was 1,746,500, a decrease of 8,750 from the previous week's revised average, which was revised down by 2,250 from 1,757,500 to 1,755,250.</li></ul><p>The continuing claims continue to move to the downside suggesting that people are still finding jobs even if being laid off.</p><p>The data continues to show jobs market is still healthy. Tomorrow the BLS report will be released with expectations of around 224K versus 339K last month. The unemployment rate is expected to decline to 3.6% from 3.7%.</p>

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