Continuing claims 1737K versus 1734K estimate

The US initial jobless claims came in at 213K versus 220K estimate. The 4 week average came in at 220.75K that was down from 221.75k last week.

  • continuing claims came in 1737K versus 1734K estimate. Its 4-week average was 1728.5K vs 1720.5K
  • The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending January 5 were in New York (+26,297), Georgia (+10,798), Texas (+3,815), South Carolina (+3,280), and Alabama (+3,003),
  • The largest decreases were in New Jersey (-8,016), Ohio (-5,701), Michigan (-4,830), Iowa (-3,575), and Massachusetts (-3,429). ]

Despite the government shutdown the claims data still remains strong. However, the federal employees are reported on a lag. As a result, the impact may not be fully known. Nevertheless into day 27, you gotta think the lag has had some time and the data is not showing much weakness.