Weekly Jobless Claims Break Below 400,000

Jobless claims continue to come down and this week initial claims fell 9,000 to 397,000. The four-week average is now also approaching the 400,000 level, down 2,000 in the week to 404,500. This level is more than 10,000 lower than the month-ago comparison and offers a positive indication for the October employment report to be released on Friday.

The report comes on the heals of an ADP report release Wednesday that showed October private payrolls rose 110,000 six digit growth that mirrored September's growth of 116,000.

The Wednesday Challenger Job-Cut Report also showed corporate layoff rates to be significantly subdued.

The doomsters have long pointed to a jobless claims level of 400,000 as the mark that indicates robust hiring is on the way... of course don't look for the perma-pessimists to change their tune even though the recovery has now produced this number.

The is no doubt however that if the jobless claims levels continue their current trends, that both private and government payroll nets will continue their healthy rise.