AWESOME NUMBER: INITIAL JOBLESS CLAIMS FALL TO 339K

Very nice.

Initial jobless claims for the past week fell to 339K from an upwardly revised 455K last week.

Analysts had expected 350K, so this is a big beat.

Initial jobless claims give us a nice, real-time look at the state of the labor market.

So although there have been some worries that the economy is deteriorating again, this number does not corroborate that.

The lowest point for the economic cycle is 332K, so this is good.