Last week's "blip" higher in initial claims to over 300k - its highest in almost 3-months - has been demolished by the always-reliable, never-noisy data this week. At 280k, dramatically better than expectations of 305k, initial claims has only been lower once in the last 14 years... just don't tell Janet. The prior week was upwardly revised leaving a 36k drop this week - the biggest percentage drop since 2005. The all-important 4-week average is back under 300k and the labor department reports nothing unusual about this week's data... apart from the fact that non-seasonally-adjusted claims rose 6k to 241k.
3-Mo High to 14-Year Low... (aside from July's 279k print lows).
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Charts: Bloomberg
