The number of Americans filing for jobless claims for the first time rose from 227k to 248k last week (both SA and NSA jumped)...

Source: Bloomberg

Ohio saw the largest jump in initial claims by far (see below) followed by California and Texas. Missouri saw the biggest decline in claims...

Which is important since, as a reminder, Goldman highlights that two distortions that likely boosted initial claims over the last few months - potentially fraudulent filings in Ohio and expanded eligibility for unemployment insurance in Minnesota - appeared to persist in today’s report.

Those two states accounted for 28k initial claims (vs. 29k in the prior week and 14k in late May; SA by GS). After adjusting for those distortions, initial claims remained near levels last seen in January.

Bewilderingly, continuing claims continue their trend lower, back near 2023 lows at 1.68mm Americans...

Source: Bloomberg

However, as Goldman also points out, ongoing seasonal distortions have likely weighed on continuing claims over the last few months, and we estimate they could exert a cumulative drag on the level of continuing claims of 375k between April and September.

So more of the same, all indications suggest a strong labor market entirely dislocated from The Fed's tightening moves.