Here come initial jobless claims ...

The Department of Labor's weekly release of initial jobless claims data will drop at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Economists forecast that the number of first-time filings for unemployment insurance rose by 4,000 to 253,000 last week, according to Bloomberg.

Initial jobless claims are a good early indicator of when the labor market is starting to sour because when they rise rise, they reflect an increasing number of job losses.

Last week, the four-week moving average of claims, which evens out some of the week-by-week volatility, fell to 253,300, the lowest level since December 8, 1973. The weekly print had not crossed the 300,000 mark for 83 straight weeks as of last week, the longest streak since 1970.

More to come ...

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