Jobless Claims: Trending Higher

Bottom Line:  Claims rose to 245k, reaching the high end of the range of the last two months, and still sharply higher on the year. Since the Department of Labor's annual revisions to the seasonal adjustment model in the first week of April, the trend in continuing claims has been sharply higher, hitting cycle highs again last week. That said, the level of claims remains historically low. But the trend bears close watching -- an upside break of 250k would signal a potential shift in labor market conditions.Initial Jobless Claims ROSE 5k in the week ended April 15th to 245k, ABOVE the 4-week average of 239.75k, ABOVE the 13-week average of 226.76923k and 28k ABOVE the year-ago level. Non-seasonally adjusted Claims FELL -7.021k.Continuing Claims ROSE 61k in the week ended April 8th to 1.865M, ABOVE the 4-week average of 1.82725M, ABOVE the 13-week average of 1.755923M and 338k ABOVE the year-ago level.