For the 9th week in a row, the smoothed average of initial jobless claims in Texas surged (Other Shale States - PA, ND, and CO also saw a notable rise in claims). While Tennessee's levels were estimated, the broad levels of claims send a mixed message. Initial claims beat expectations, fell from 304k to 283k with the trend now clearly flat since September. However, Continuing Claims jumped 58k to 2.425 million - the biggest jump in 2015, notably missing expectations. The trend of employmenmt has clearly changed...
It appears the trend of employment has changed...
[4]
But The Shale States are suffering... Smoothed average of initial claims (lagged a week)
[5]
Charts: Bloomberg
