Initial claims around the holiday, continuing claims at new cycle high

Distorted by the timing of the July 4th holiday, initial jobless claims for the week ended 7/5 fell to 227k from 232k and that was 8k less than expected. Not influenced by the holiday were continuing claims for the week ended 6/28 and they rose 10k w/o/w to 1.965k as expected but at a new cycle high going back to November 2021.

Bottom line, as stated, let’s wait until next week’s initial claims data to smooth out July 4th’s influence. That said, the elevated level of continuing claims points to the moderation we’ve seen in hiring.