Things Are Getting Better {Jobless Claims}

Bespoke Investment Group adds another piece of data to my argument that from an economic perspective things are incrementally getting better when it comes to the economy.  Todays piece of data is initial jobless claims.  Here's their take. {Excerpt because I didn't include all of the charts in their blog post.  My highlights at the end.} 

"Jobless claims for the latest week were released earlier this morning and showed a larger than expected decline.  While economists were looking for first time claims to come in at 335K, the actual level was 12K lower (323K).  This represents the lowest weekly reading for claims since late September.  With this week's decline, the four-week moving average dropped by just under 7K to 338.5K.  This represents the third straight week of declines for this reading since it peaked after the government shutdown.  Perhaps the best part of today's initial claims report was the non-seasonally adjusted reading (NSA), which fell to 322.5K.  For the current week of the year, this is the lowest reading since 2004, and it's well below the historical average of 389.6K for the current week going back to 2002."

Link:  Bespoke:  Jobless Claims Better Than Expected.