Just in case the BLS seasonal adjustment needed a little confirmation prodding, here comes the BLS [4]with its weekly initial claims number which at 358K (next week to be revised to over 360K), was a pleasant beat of expectations of 370K, down from an upward revised 373K the prior week. Offsetting this was an increase in continuing claims by 64K from 3437K to 3515K, up from an upward revised 3451K. According to Bloomberg's Joseph Brusuelas the underlying trend “supports modest improvement in labor market." Elsewhere, the net addition to EUCs and Extended benefits was a total of +19k. What this means is that the layoff wave of the temp worker hiring binge for the holiday season, is now ending. As for actual full time job additions, we will have to wait and see the "unadjusted" BLS data for that.
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