Thankful/Claims data improves, cap ex flat lines

Before I get to my last comments before the holiday, which I hope you enjoy with your family and friends, I just wanted to say that I’m thankful each day that you take the time to read what I have to say.

After jumping last week to 233k (revised up by 2k), initial jobless claims fell back to 209k for the week ended 11/18 and that was well below the estimate of 227k. Smoothing out the weekly noise has the 4 week average at 220k vs 221k in the week before which is around a 2 month high. Continuing claims remained near the highest level since December 2021 but did fall to 1.84mm from 1.862mm in the prior week and vs 1.833mm in the week before that.