US Continuing Jobless Claims Fall by 3.86M

Continuing Jobless Claims in the United States decreased significantly last week to 21,052,000 from a record high of 24,912,000 in the previous week.

The numbers smashed the gloomy market forecast of 25.8 million and showed the first decrease in continuing claims since the corona-virus pandemic started in March.  Stated most succinctly:  3.86M *less* workers continued their claim for unemployment payments than in the week prior!  The incorrect upward forecast had predicted that nearly 1M *more* workers would be added to those already receiving claims.

The steep decline in these continuing claims was the first glimmer of hope for a job market frozen by COVID-19.  Continued declines of such magnitude (nearly 4M per week!) in the coming weeks could be significantly good news and measure just how many jobs have been permanently lost vs those only temporarily furloughed.