Initial jobless claims rose 27,000 to 412,000 during the week ended April 9. It is surprising given that initial jobless have been trending down and holding below 400,000 for four straight weeks.

The Labor Department indicated that seasonally unadjusted initial claims for the first full week of the quarter were larger than expected (+25% vs. expected gain of 17%) which raised the count of seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims. What do we make of this explanation? Postpone judgment until additional weekly numbers are available. Continuing claims, which lag initial jobless claims by one week, fell 58,000 to 3.68 million. Claims under emergency programs for the week ended March 26 rose roughly 40,000 to 4.311 million.

Asha Bangalore — Senior Vice President and Economist

http://www.northerntrust.com
Asha Bangalore is Vice President and Economist at The Northern Trust Company, Chicago. Prior to joining the bank in 1994, she was Consultant to savings and loan institutions and commercial banks at Financial & Economic Strategies Corporation, Chicago.

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of The Northern Trust Company. The Northern Trust Company does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of information contained herein, such information is subject to change and is not intended to influence your investment decisions.

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