Here come initial jobless claims ...
Economists forecast that first-time filings for unemployment insurance rose by 20,000 to 255,000 last week, according to Bloomberg. It would be the 97th straight weeks that claims have not topped 300,000.
Economists point to the low levels of initial and continuing claims - not seen since the 1970s - as signs of steadiness in the jobs market.
"We continue to think that job creation will decelerate, as we said in 2016. In fact, looking at last year, the US economy averaged 'only' 180k new jobs per month, after averaging 230k per month in 2015," said LPL Financial in a recent note.
"Many market participants have been skeptical that decelerating jobs growth could still foster a tightening labor force and rising wages. Well, with the December 2016 wage growth up 2.9% year over year, improving wages and other key measures of wages may finally heal the disconnect between the market and the Federal Reserve (Fed) on the labor market."