Jobless Claims: Edged Higher In Last Week of 2017

Bottom Line: Claims edged higher in the week ended December 30th. The 4-week average is now at 242k, above he 13-week average of 239k. While subject to heavy seasonal adjustments in December, this might suggest the month ended slightly weaker than it started. This bears watching, especially if tomorrow's payroll figure for all of December proves as strong as the ADP report indicated it might. Jobless ClaimsContinuing Claims