Weekly Jobless Claims Tick Higher

Thursday's jobs report from the U.S. Labor Department showed that weekly jobless claims rose by 5,000 to 320,000. The prior report was left unrevised at 315,000. Dow Jones was calling for 320,000 claims and Bloomberg was calling for 325,000.

This reading is unlikely to make much of a wave as it is so close to the estimates. Still, with Janet Yellen loosening up on the 6.5% unemployment target, and with her calling for the rate hikes to begin six months or so after the end of the bond buying, all eyes are looking closely at any jobs data.

The Labor Department also said the four-week average dropped by 3,500 to 327,000.

Continuing jobless claims, what we call the army of the unemployed, rose by 41,000 to 2,889,000. Be advised that continuing claims come with a one-week lag.

S&P 500 futures were down four points and DJIA futures were down 34 points shortly after the report.

Filed under: Jobs