Although the numbers seem to be trending in the right direction, investors would like to see weekly jobless claims drop below 400,000.
The payrolls in the U.S. have expanded for seven consecutive months, as the number of firings has dropped, helping to shore up consumer confidence and giving some hope for this Thursday’s numbers.
“Probably the key thing here is the ongoing weakness in initial claims. A reading above 400,000 on the four-week average verifies what the Fed has been saying about the weakness in the labor market and therefore the recovery, ” says Andrew Wilkinson, Senior Market Analyst, at Interactive Brokers Group.
Tisha Guerrero contributed to this article.