By G C Mays
The Department of Labor reported that in the week ending December 25, the advance figure for weekly jobless claims was 388,000, a decrease of 34,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised figure of 422,000. The 4 week moving average stands at 414,000, a decrease of 12,500 from the previous week.
The advance figure for continuing claims for the week ending December 18 was 4,128,000, an increase of 57,000 from the previous week's revised level of 4,071,000, the 4 week moving average was 4,120,000, a decrease of 37,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 4,157,250.
There were 8 states with a decrease in claims of more than 1000 compared to 22 states in the previous week. There were 9 states with an increase of more than 1000 claims compared to 3 states in the previous week.
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Source: Dept. Of Labor / Mays Report
It is my belief that the lion's share of the downward trend in claims this quarter is the result of people taking part-time holiday work. Hopefully some of them will parlay those opportunities into full-time gigs. However, we will have to wait until the end of January before we know for sure.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
