Nevada remains the worst affected as US initial jobless claims declines to 1.186m

The latest jobless claims figures from the Department of Labour shows initial claims filed during the week ending 1^st August declined to 1,186,000, beating consensus expectations for 1,432,000.

S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures creeped higher on the news, erasing their pre-market losses, while the yield on the US 10-year treasury ticked higher by about 1bp. The price action was notably muted as tomorrow’s non-farm payrolls report beckons.

Today’s reported decline negates the 12,000 increase in initial claims observed in the prior week period (ending 25^th July) and gives a cause for optimism as many feared the labour market recovery was slowing.

Yesterday’s ADP payrolls numbers were weaker-than-expected, while last week’s jobless claims numbers saw continuing jobless claims rise by 867,000 to 17,018,000.

The insured unemployment rate (for the week ending 25^th July) fell by 0.6% to 11%, more than offsetting the 0.5% rise observed for the preceding week. Continuing jobless claims fell 844,000 to 16,107,000 (for the week ending 25^th July) which almost completely offset the 867,000 rise for the preceding week.

The top three US states/territories by insured unemployment rate (for the week ending 18^th July) were Nevada, Puerto Rico and Hawaii reporting 24.9%, 23.5% and 21%, respectively.

These three US states/territories were also the top three in the prior week period, however, the situation in Nevada worsened with the unemployment rate rising by 2.9% to 24.9%, while in the Puerto Rico it has declined by 1.1% to 23.5%.

The top three US states/territories seeing the largest increases in initial claims (for the week ending 25^th July) were Virginia (+5,020), Nevada (+2,842) and Missouri (+2,606) – Virginia and Nevada were also among the top three in the prior week period. The largest decreases in initial claims were in California (-44,941), Georgia (-37,329) and Florida (-17,514).