Jobless Claims Numbers Have Remained Below 300,000 For 69 Weeks Straight

The U.S. Labor Department reported weekly jobless claim applications have risen by 10,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 268,000. The latest number is mostly in-line with the four-week average of 267,000 and marks the 69th consecutive week that jobless claims have come in below 300,000.

The recent jobless claims numbers are particularly reassuring after U.S. employers reportedly added only 38,000 jobs last month. American businesses may not be hiring as much these days, but it certainly seems as if they are not laying off many workers either.

RSM US LLP Chief Economist Joe Brusuelas has argued the low May job growth number was simply an outlier.

“The only remarkable thing in the initial claims data is that despite plenty of seasonal noise, the underlying trend remains in place and the top line is in-line with my preferred metric, the 13-week moving average,” Brusuelas said in an email to Benzinga.

“The trend in the data does imply the weak May Employment Report is an outlier and investors should anticipate a return to trend growth in hiring near 180K on a monthly basis in June."

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The June jobs report is due out on July 8.

Since the release of the surprisingly weak May report, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY is down 1.6 percent.

Disclosure: the author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.