It would not be the DOL if the last week's initial claims wasn't revised higher. And it was: from 334K to 336K. But more importantly, the current week's number of 354K once again broke the "improving" trend, and printed far above consensus estimates of 340K, proving that there is still a substantial amount of "disposable" slack in the economy. If the stock market continues its downward jiggle, and without the Fed that may well be the case, look for the Claims trendline to resume going from the lower left to the upper right, in seasonally adjusted terms. In short: yet another red flag for the economy, which continues to reject the Fed's attempts to restart a "virtuous cycle." Yet by the looks of things, this datapoint alone is not enough to start speculation of the untaper.
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And a breakdown of the last week's major initial claims change for states with a +/- 1,000 change.
STATES WITH A DECREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000
- CA: -1,209 - Fewer layoffs in the service and retail trade industries.
STATES WITH AN INCREASE OF MORE THAN 1,000
- PA: +5,214 - Layoffs in the transportation, healthcare and social services, entertainment, lodging and food service, and scientific and technology services industries.
- IL: +3,364 - Layoffs in the transportation and warehousing, construction, and accommodation and food service.
- TX: +3,007 - No comment.
- GA: +2,937 - Layoffs in the manufacturing, trade, administrative and support service, transportation and warehousing, healthcare and social assistance industries.
- OH: +2,326 - Layoffs in the manufacturing, communication, finance, and service industries.
- KY: +1,825 - No comment.
- FL: +1,645 - Layoffs in the manufacturing, retail trade, agriculture, and service industries.
- VA: +1,479 - Layoffs in the transportation and warehousing, and manufacturing industries.
- NC: +1,454 - Layoffs in the industrial and commercial machinery, business service, textile, and metal industries.
- PR: +1,385 - No comment.
- NY: +1,341 - Layoffs in the finance and insurance, healthcare and social assistance, and transportation industries.
- NJ: +1,340 - Layoffs in the finance, trade, transportation and warehousing, professional and technical service, and manufacturing industries.
Not a good distribution there...