Here Are the Latest Numbers on Americans Seeking Unemployment Aid, Huge Tumble

Once again we turn to our weekly jobless claims report:

Applications for jobless benefits fell by 15,000 for the week ending August 10, bringing the total to 320,000, down from last week’s revised figure of 335,000, the Labor Department announced on Thursday.

This is an official six-year low.

The four-week moving average, a “less volatile” figure, fell by 4,000, bringing the total to 332,000, down from the previous average of 336,000.

“The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent for the week ending August 3, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate,” the report reads.

“The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 3 was 2,969,000, a decrease of 54,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,023,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,986,500, a decrease of 38,500 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,025,000,” it adds.

The states with the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending August 3 were California (+3,715), Ohio (+1,270), Texas (+1,151), Pennsylvania (+999), and Puerto Rico (+816).

Meanwhile, Oregon (-1,638), Illinois (-999), New Jersey (-762), New York (-712), and Connecticut (-632) posted the biggest decreases in initial claims.

Markets are starting to see a slight improvement over Wednesday's numbers: