Initial Claims Move in Right Direction, Show Surprise Drop to 364,000
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How's that one catchy song go?
"We're going down, down in an earlier round;
And Sugar, we're going down swinging..."
For the most part, that's what we're humming Thursday. Just the "down, down" part, anyway.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor, Americans filing for jobless claims fell another 4,000 to 364,000 for the week ended December 17th, an unexpected drop when compared to the 380,000 economists were expecting.
Dropping for the third-straight week, this is the lowest the data point has been since April 2008. That's pretty significant.
The four-week average fell 8,000 to 300,250. Continuing claims fell 79,000 to 3.546 million for the week ended December 10th. Americans on emergency benefits fell 136,300 to 3.51 million for the week ended December 3rd.
Futures are looking stronger Thursday, though volume over the next two sessions is expected to be light heading into the holiday weekend. The Dow is up 43 points ahead of the bell, the Nasdaq is up 9.5 and the S&P 500 is up about 6 points.
"We're going down, down in an earlier round;
And Sugar, we're going down swinging..."
For the most part, that's what we're humming Thursday. Just the "down, down" part, anyway.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor, Americans filing for jobless claims fell another 4,000 to 364,000 for the week ended December 17th, an unexpected drop when compared to the 380,000 economists were expecting.
Dropping for the third-straight week, this is the lowest the data point has been since April 2008. That's pretty significant.
The four-week average fell 8,000 to 300,250. Continuing claims fell 79,000 to 3.546 million for the week ended December 10th. Americans on emergency benefits fell 136,300 to 3.51 million for the week ended December 3rd.
Futures are looking stronger Thursday, though volume over the next two sessions is expected to be light heading into the holiday weekend. The Dow is up 43 points ahead of the bell, the Nasdaq is up 9.5 and the S&P 500 is up about 6 points.
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