by Calculated Risk on 3/06/2014 08:35:00 AM

The DOL reports:

In the week ending March 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 323,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 349,000. The 4-week moving average was 336,500, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average of 338,500.

The previous week was revised up from 348,000.

The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since January 2000.

Click on graph for larger image.


The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims declined to 336,500.

This was below the consensus forecast of 338,000.  The 4-week average is mostly moving sideways ...