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(CEP News) - Initial claims for unemployment benefits in the United States came in line with expectations, dropping further to 425k in the week ending Aug. 23, the Department of Labor reported on Thursday. Continuing claims rose to 3.423 million for the week ending Aug. 16.
Forecasts were for initial claims to fall to 425k this week, following last week's upwardly revised reading of 435k. This week's figure is now below the four-week moving average for initial claims, which is now 440k, down from 446k last week. Continuing claims were expected to come in at 3.390 million for the week ending Aug. 16, following the previous week's downwardly revised figure of 3.359 million. This is the 16th consecutive week that continuing claims have been above the three million mark. The four-week moving average is now 3.365 million, up from the moving average of 3.329 million in the previous week. Claims have recently been higher than normal following new rules introduced by the Department of Labor that made filing for unemployment benefits easier. Prior to the release, George Adell, fixed income strategist from Commerce Capital Markets, said that despite the distortion in the figures recently, the fact remains that claims are trending higher. "What [Thursday]'s data will tell you is that the labour market is weak and it won't recover any time soon." By Stephen Huebl,
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, edited by Nancy Girgis,
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