The U.S. Department of Labor is set to release the weekly jobless claims figures for the week of July 25 at 8:30 a.m. ET, with a consensus forecast of 272,000, according to Bloomberg News. Estimates are in a narrow range from 270,000 to 275,000. This follows last week's historically low jobless claims number of 255,00, the lowest level seen in over 40 years.
Jobless claims are compiled weekly to show the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time.
The closely watched four-week moving average, used to smooth out the volatility of the weekly report, has flattened off recently between 260,00 and 280,000, levels last seen in early 2000. Even with jobless claims having improved, roughly 17 million Americans still remain unemployed or underemployed.
The U.S. Federal Reserve said in their Wednesday FOMC release that it will closely watch the jobs market regarding the timing of when to hike interest rates. Today's jobless claims number may provide some insight into next week's important jobs number on Friday.
In front of the jobless claims release, S&P 500 futures were down 0.11 percent at 2009.25.
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