Jobless claims were unchanged in the latest week, and at a level of 211K, bulls on the economy will take it. This week's 211K reading was also good enough to come in below economists' expectations which were at 219K. It is also tied for the second-lowest reading in weekly claims since 1969, behind only the 209K print from two weeks ago! The record streak of weekly claims below 300K is now in its 166th week, and the streak of sub 250K readings is up to 25!
With the third straight week of sub 225K readings, the four-week moving average of claims also set another multi-decade low this week falling from 221.5K down to 216K. The last time the four-week moving average was this low was back in 1969.
Finally, on a non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) basis, claims once again came in below 200K. For the current week of the year, NSA claims are more than 125K below their average of 316.8K for the current week of the year since 2000, and to find the last time they were this low in the first week of May was all the way back in 1969.