INITIAL JOBLESS CLAIMS UNEXPECTEDLY FALL TO 5-YEAR LOW
Claims unexpectedly fell to 323,000 from last week's revised reading of 327,000.
This is the lowest level since January 2008.
Economists were expecting claims to rise to 335,000 from a preliminary reading of 324,000.
The 4-week moving average fell to 336,750 from 343,000 a week ago.
The Department of Labor added that no states estimated their claims and there was nothing unusual in the data, so this is a clean number.
"Today's jobless claims report is the most important release in what is a quiet week for U.S. data," says High Frequency Economics' Jim O'Sullivan. "While weekly readings can be erratic, the claims series remains a key momentum indicator for the labor market."