Unemployment Claims

Unemployment Claims

High impact event

Source : Department of Labor

Measures : The number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time during the past week;

Usual Effect : Actual < forecast =" Good" style="font-weight: bold;">Frequency : Released weekly, 5 days after the week ends;

Also Called : Jobless Claims, Initial Claims;

This is the nation's earliest economic data. The market impact fluctuates from week to week - there tends to be more focus on the release when traders need to diagnose recent developments, or when the reading is at extremes;
Although it's generally viewed as a lagging indicator, the number of unemployed people is an important signal of overall economic health because consumer spending is highly correlated with labor conditions;