Initial unemployment claims hit a 2 month high, exceeding estimates.
Continuing claims did so as well as the 4 week moving average.
Initial and recurring applications for US unemployment benefits both rose to a two-month high, suggesting some slowdown in the labor market.
Initial claims increased by 9,000 to 224,000 in the week ending Jan. 27, according to Labor Department data released on Thursday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 212,000.
Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving unemployment benefits, rose to 1.9 million in the week ending Jan. 20.
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Weekly claims tend to be volatile. The four-week moving average, which helps smooth short-term fluctuations, increased to 207,750, marking the biggest increase since November.
The unadjusted data on initial claims, which doesn’t take into account seasonal influences, rose by 11,000 to about 261,000. California, New York and Oregon saw the largest gains.
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After Federal Reserve officials held interest rates steady on Wednesday, Chair Jerome Powell called the labor market “strong” in a press conference, adding “it’s getting back into balance, and that’s what we want to see.”
By, "Back into balance," it means that Powell and the rest of his Sado-Monetarists goons think that we are getting back to an employment situation where the vast majority of workers are members of the precariat, meekly acquiescing to whatever sh%$ their employers want to shower them with.
F%$# that. (I really miss, "Say F%$# January," and it isn't even Groundhog Day yet?
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