From our colleagues at our sister company, Argent Trust:
Announced this morning, Initial Jobless Claims were 228,000 for the week ending April 1st, higher than expected and the previous week was revised markedly higher to 246,000. Continuing Claims were 1,823,000 for the week ending March 25th, also higher than the previous figure and a strong revision higher for the previous week. Meanwhile, announced yesterday the employment change from ADP’s report was 145,000 for March, less than expected and a decline from last month’s revised figure.
Overall, initial and continuing claims both show increases in the current week and higher revisions to the previous week, denoting a whiff of weakness. The slowing was also seen earlier this week in both the ADP report’s less than expected result and in the softening of the JOLT’s data. All eyes will be on tomorrow’s payroll’s report to see if labor data points deteriorate, and a higher unemployment rate materializes. With inflationary measures still elevated and above the Federal Reserve’s target, policy is likely to be restrictive until the labor market shows signs of strain.
In all, the yield on the 10-year US treasury ticks slightly higher following the report of initial claims and equity futures are lower as we head into the market open.
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