WASHINGTON - Initial jobless claims fell 14,000 to 418,000 for the week ending July 2 on a seasonally adjusted basis the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Continuing claims for the week ending June 25 slid 43,000 to 3.681 million.
Economists expected 420,000 initial jobless claims and 3.700 million continuing claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Initial claims for the June 25 week were revised to 432,000. The continuing claims figure for the previous week was revised to 3.724 million.
The four-week moving average of initial claims, a less volatile figure was, 424,750, down from a revised 427,750. The four week average for continuing claims in the June 25 week was 3.705 million, down from a revised 3.709 million.
There were 2,500 new claims based on the Minnesota government shutdown which began June 30, a Labor Department official said.
Six states, Alaska, California, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Oregon and Virginia had estimated claims reports.
Thirty-one states had a decrease in reported claims, 22 had an increase.
"Initial jobless claims are on the verge of entering their mid-summer silly season," says Wrightson ICAP economist Lou Crandall, "in which timing difficulties associated with factory shutdowns routinely create large distortions in the reported data." Summer shutdowns aren't predictable and cause problems with seasonal adjustments. The Labor Department official said the shutdowns were not a big factor in the July 2 report but could cause volatility in coming weeks.
