US Unemployment Claims Raise to Record Levels

Unemployment claims jumped higher in last week's report and they came in twice as high today for last week

Jobless claims keep surging in the US

Jobless claims jumped higher to 3,283K in the third week of March in the US, as the economy shut down. Unemployment claims were expected to come in quite high again last week, at 3,600K, but claims were double that amount, as the shutdown spread in more US states.

Below is the unemployment claims report and the trade balance which were released yesterday:

US Unemployment Claims Report

  • Initial jobless claims rise by greater 6,648K vs 3,700K estimate.
  • Prior week revised to 3,307K vs 3,283K
  • 4 week MA rises to 2,612K vs 1,004.25K last week
  • Continuing claims 3,029K vs 4,941K. The prior week was revised to 1,748K vs 1,803K
  • The 4-week moving average moved to 2053.5K vs 1,726.25K last week.
  • All states reported increases in initial claims for the week ending March 21. The largest increases were in Pennsylvania (+362,012), Ohio (+189,263), Massachusetts (+141,003), Texas (+139,250), and California (+128,727), while the smallest increases were in the Virgin Islands (+79), South Dakota (+1,571), West Virginia (+2,671), Vermont (+3,125), and Wyoming (+3,136).
  • Record levels for claims

US Trade Balance Report

  • February trade balance -$39.9B vs -$40.0B expected
  • January stood at -$45.3B (revised to $-45.5B)

As shown above, the unemployment claims came in at 6,648K for last week, while the previous week revised to 3,307K from 3,283K reported last week. Although, we will probably see such numbers in the coming weeks as well, until the coronavirus is tackled.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR See More
Skerdian Meta
Lead Analyst
Skerdian Meta Lead Analyst. Skerdian is a professional Forex trader and a market analyst. He has been actively engaged in market analysis for the past 11 years. Before becoming our head analyst, Skerdian served as a trader and market analyst in Saxo Bank's local branch, Aksioner. Skerdian specialized in experimenting with developing models and hands-on trading. Skerdian has a masters degree in finance and investment.

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