Initial jobless claims were expected to remain depressingly high last week, after spiking the week before, and they did (though slightly better than expected).
900,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week (less than the 935k expected and slightly lower than the 926k revised level of the week before), but still up near 4 month highs…
Source: Bloomberg
The ‘good’ news is that the continuing pandemic claims has fallen notably
Source: Bloomberg
But while the overall number of Americans on unemployment benefits fell last week, it remains above 15 million…
Source: Bloomberg
Sadly, however, the silver lining should have a huge asterisk against it as it was dominated by a massive drop in California claims – which fundamentally makes zero sense as the state’s draconian lockdown policies only became more draconian during this period…
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/900000-americans-filed-first-time-jobless-benefits-last-week