‘Official’ Initial Jobless Claims Data Released, But…

After more than six weeks of government shutdown, official macro data is starting to flow… but it’s lagged.

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits for the first time totaled 232,000 in the week ended Oct. 18, according to the Labor Department website. This print certainly shows no sign of the potential weakness that many have anticipated (but then again it’s a month old).

Source: Bloomberg

Continuing jobless claims picked up, but remains below mid-summer highs…

Source: Bloomberg

So, now we know that a month ago, claims data showed a still resilient labor market.. but we also know – based on private data suppliers – that job cut announcements have accelerated notably…

Source: Bloomberg

So, choose your own adventure with this data. We suspect there will be a lot more of this in the next few days as more and more (delayed) data is released.