Initial jobless claims have been worse than expected for the last 2 weeks but remained below the magical 300k level, so it was only appropriate that this week all the great economic news of late - record plunge in US macro disappointments and a dismal 0.2% GDP print - would be met with the lowest claims print in 15 years. At 262k (against a 290k expectation), initial claims has only been lower once - the week of April 14th 2000 - which just happened to mark the top of the Dot-Com bubble. While this is great news, we do note that a rolling average of Texas Jobless claims shows the improving trend has stalled.
Outlier or new trend?
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But a rolling average of Texas Jobless claims shows the improving trend has stalled...
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Perhaps most worrying is this... the last time we were this low - only once in history, marked the week of the top of the DotCom bubble in 2000....
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Charts: Bloomberg
