FYI: Fed Chair Powell's testimony on Capitol Hill yesterday made frequent mentions of the strength of the labor market, and initial jobless claims data released this morning helped to give further support of this strength. Claims were expected to come in unchanged from last week at 221K but instead fell to a seasonally adjusted level of 209K. That is the lowest print in about three months (since April 12th) when claims came in at the multi-decade low of 193K. Whereas the past few weeks were near the upper end of the past year's range, this drop now brings claims back down towards the lower end of that range. In other words, while not a new low, it is still a healthy number. As such, the record streaks at or below 250K and 300K continue at 92 weeks and 227 weeks, respectively.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.bespokepremium.com/interactive/posts/think-big-blog/lowest-claims-in-three-months
