Fra Zerohedge:
Initial jobless claims keep grinding lower and lower.
The last time this few Americans sought the help of government after losing a job was in November 1969. Initial Jobless Claims tumbled another 5K from the prior week’s revised 197K to just 192K: the second consecutive sub-200K print in 50 years, and the lowest print since September 1969.
The YTD change in the absolute number of claims is now the best in at least the past decade.
While the number will probably not come as a big surprise in light of the recent sharp rebound in payrolls, the Fed will be hard pressed to explain why it is pausing its rate hikes at a time when the fewest number of Americans are filing for jobless benefits in half a century.
For some context, the last time claims were this low:
- The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” Album hit #1
- Wendy’s Hamburgers, American fast food restaurant chains founded by Dave Thomas opens in Columbus, Ohio
- Alcatraz Island off SF, is seized by militant Native Americans
- US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
So much for that government shutdown Q1 weakness.
