Number of Americans Seeking Unemployment Aid Takes a Huge Fall

And here’s our weekly jobless claims update:

Applications for jobless benefits fell by 19,000 for the week ending July 27, bringing the total to 326,000, way down from last week’s revised figure of 345,000, the Labor Department announced on Thursday.

This is the lowest this figure has been since January 2008. But keep in mind last week's number was revised upward.

The four-week moving average, a “less volatile” figure, fell by 4,500, bringing the total to 341,250, down from the previous average of 345,750.

“The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent for the week ending July 20, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate,” the report reads.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 20 was 2,951,000, a decrease of 52,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,003,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,026,000, a decrease of 500 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,026,500,” it adds.

The states with the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending July 20 were California (+7,723), Missouri (+635), Kansas (+427), Illinois (+383), and Maine (+136).

Meanwhile, New York (-14,966), Pennsylvania (-8,817), Alabama (-6,019), Georgia (-5,504), and Wisconsin (-3,324) posted the biggest decreases in initial claims.

Markets are off to a good start today: