Jobless Claims Fall Back to Healthy Levels

- Initial Jobless Claims for last week fell to 330K versus estimates of 333K and 351K the prior week.
- Continuing Claims fell to 2588K versus estimates of 2591K and 2592K prior.

BOTTOM LINE: Jobless filings jumped in the prior week because of temporary layoffs in the automobile industry, the government said. The four-week average of jobless claims dropped to 331,750 from 334,500. The claims figures are consistent with much stronger hiring than the unexpectedly small 78,000 gain in May payrolls reported by the Labor Department last week, economists said. The four-week moving average of continuing claims declined to 2.587 million from 2.589 million. Finally, the uninsured unemployment rate, which corresponds with the US unemployment rate, held at 2.0%.