While jobless claims rose more than expected last week, the overall trend is still clearly headed in the right direction

While jobless claims rose more than expected last week, the overall trend is still clearly headed in the right direction. Claims rose 12,000 from the previous week to 290,000, a seven-week high. However, the 4-week average remains at a healthy 285,000, not far off of the 14-year low of 279,000. Moreover, year-over-year, claims dropped 15.2%. There's no doubt the US job market is in better shape than it was last year. Ultimately, I'd consider any jobless claims number under 300,000 to be good news for the job market. In that respect, we've been in good shape for the past 9 straight weeks. (VIEW LINK)