US initial jobless claims for the week of March 21, 2020.
The initial jobless claims for the week of March 21 surged by 3283K vs 1640K estimate. The prior week was revised to 282k from 281K
- Initial jobless claims surges to 3283K vs 1640K est. It is a record level.
- four-week average surges to 998.25 versus 232.25K
- continuing claims1803K vs 1791K estimate
- The 4 week average 1731K vs 1703.25K last week
- The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending March 14 were in California (+14,221), Washington (+7,624), Nevada (+4,047), Pennsylvania (+3,212), and Massachusetts (+2,737),
- The largest decreases were in Arkansas (-461), Alabama (-341), Puerto Rico (-171), West Virginia (-168), and Maine (-81).
California leads the way with a gain of 14,221 with Washington 2nd at 7264K. This is for last week though. The real numbers by states will be announced next week.
The good news (or so it seems) is most states seem to have processed the number of new claims or so you hope. The bad news is where is NY on list of "largest increases" last week? That might indicate a delay in processing.
There will likely me more down the road, but the initial shock has been seen. Stocks have rebounded since the report with the Dow -241 points.
The Continuing claims data is on a week delay. So it is for the week of March 14th.
What we will have to deal with going forward, is the chart below will be ruined forever (or at least until enough time goes by).
