Initial jobless claims 'confused' last week, printing 229k (well below the 245k exp and the 242k prior). BUT, and it's a big but, Massachusetts - after admitting to widespread fraud - has revised its last three months jobless claims data lower by an average of 14k per week.

The result is that claims actually ROSE last week from a revised lower 225k to 229k...

The last two weeks saw the headline claims revised down 50k jobs (-33k and -17k respectively)

We note that for the second week in a row, MA saw a big decline in claims...

Additionally, Continuing claims continued to trend back below 1.8mm.

Once again, can we really trust this data?

...and we are supposed to trust this 'new' data?
{ai:summary}Jobless claims appear to have fallen last week to 229k, below expectations and the previous week's figure. However, it later emerged that Massachusetts had revised downwards its claims data for the last three months by an average of 14k per week due to fraud, meaning claims actually rose last week from a revised 225k to 229k. This revised figure followed a reduction of 50k jobs over the last two weeks. There are doubts as to whether the data can be trusted. #economy

Initial Jobless Claims Rise After Massachusetts Fraud Revisions

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