Total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending Sept 5 was 26.0 M

[progree]

More than 824,000 Americans file for unemployment as economy slowly rebounds, Charisse Jones, USA TODAY

blah blah 824,542 blah blah

USA TODAY is now using non-seasonally adjusted jobless claims numbers because the Labor Department has switched to a different method to adjust the data based on seasonal factors, such as school workers losing jobs in June. The old method resulted in adjustments that dramatically inflated the number of claims filed during the global health crisis.

More: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/09/24/unemployment-claims-824-542-file-jobless-benefits-amid-covid-19/3505241001/

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From the source, 830 am ET 9/24/20
https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf

In the week ending September 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 870,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 6,000 from 860,000 to 866,000. The 4-week moving average was 878,250, a decrease of 35,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 1,500 from 912,000 to 913,500.

... The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 12 was 12,580,000, a decrease of 167,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up 119,000 from 12,628,000 to 12,747,000. The 4-week moving average was 13,040,750, a decrease of 478,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 29,750 from 13,489,000 to 13,518,750.

   UNADJUSTED DATA

The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 824,542 in the week ending September 19, an increase of 28,527 (or 3.6 percent) from the previous week. The seasonal factors had expected an increase of 23,891 (or 3.0 percent) from the previous week. There were 175,394 initial claims in the comparable week in 2019. In addition, for the week ending September 19, 52 states reported 630,080 initial claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending September 5 was 26,044,952, a decrease of 3,723,513 from the previous week. There were 1,488,601 persons claiming benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2019. [Unfortunately there's a 2 1/2 week lag in this statistic. The week ending Sept 5 is the latest there is for this -Progree]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Thank you. Once again, I forgot all about it. NT

[progree]

2. Stocks trade lower after weak jobless claims report

(interesting, a different framing)

Stock market news live updates: Stocks trade lower after weak jobless claims report, Emily McCormick, Yahoo Finance, 9/24/20
Stocks fell on Thursday, with nervous investors extending a selloff that’s yanked benchmarks within view of a correction.

The Labor Department’s weekly jobless claims report showed that another 870,000 workers filed new unemployment claims, slightly above Wall Street’s estimates but below the psychologically key 1 million water mark that’s become critical in the post-coronavirus lockdown jobs market. All told, the data shows how workers are continuing to struggle in an economy that’s healing in fits and starts.

However, tech stocks have become a major focus of the market, where heavy selling has dragged the three major indices into a September selloff that most analysts had hoped to avoid. Another day of declines pulled the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to their lowest closing levels since late July.

The blue-chip index ended the day 9.6% below its record high from early September to come within striking distance of entering corrective territory, or a pullback of at least 10% from a recent closing high.

Equity investors are digesting a confluence of concerns, including increased uncertainty around the US presidential elections, signs of a growth slowdown, dimming hopes for fiscal stimulus and worsening trends in Covid-19 cases in the US and Europe, even as drugmakers race to develop an effective Covid-19 vaccine. JPMorgan Chase analysts said Tuesday that a contested US election is now their baseline view, given the expected rise in postal voting and President Donald Trump’s baseless but repeated allegations that the voting method is more conducive to fraud.

More: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-live-september-24-2020-224347265.html

S&P 500 and Dow both down 0.80%, Nasdaq down 1.01% 9:41 AM ET

S&P 500 is slightly negative year-to-date at the moment, having closed 12/31/19 at 3231.

1015 AM ET update - stock indexes higher now: S&P 500: +0.53%, Dow: +0.39, NASDAQ +0.72%