EmailInitial claims for the week ending May 19 dipped to 370,000 (Briefing.com consensus 365,000) from 372,000 in the prior week. Continuing claims for the week ending May 12 were 3.260 mln (Briefing.com consensus 3.250 mln), which was a decline of 29,000 from an upwardly revised reading of 3.289 mln in the prior week.
There was little response to this report, which was largely in-line with expectations. Moreover, it did little to change the understanding that growth momentum in the labor market has slowed. To that point, the initial claims level suggests nonfarm payroll increases in May are likely to remain below 200,000. The four-week moving average for initial claims decreased by 5,500 to 370,000 while the four-week average for continuing claims decreased by 17,250 to 3.289 million.
