Jobless claims fell by 14,000 in the month of June to 418,000 from a revised 432,000 the previous month, though that revision was up by 4,000, so the improvement was effectively just 10,000. That said, the 4-week moving average also fell 3,000 to roughly 425,000 — also good news, although better news would to be that figure getting back under the psychologically important 400,000 level in the near future.
Our trusted colleague Dirk van Dijk, CFA will be on hand later to give a detailed analysis of initial and continuing claims, including how to approach certain numbers on a one- or two-week lag.
The ADP number improved notably — 157,000 more jobs were created in June, more than twice what analysts had been expecting for the month after a dreadful May report, which is revised even further down to 36,000.
On both sides, these reports soothe the chafing investors might have been feeling regarding whether the economy was on another steep downward slope. Then again, the positives in these reports may not be stellar enough to captivate the market in this light-volume holiday week.
Crude Inventories are scheduled to be released today at 10:30 AM EST. For the week ending June 24, crude inventories decreased by 4.4 million barrels from the previous week to 359.5 million barrels.
