Jobless Claims Plunge to 5-year Low

By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch

The number of people filing for U.S. state unemployment benefits plunged by 35,000 to a seasonally adjusted 291,000 in the week ending Dec. 31, the lowest since September 2000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

A spokesman for the Labor Department cautioned that the jobless claims data are very volatile this time of year because of holidays and the large expected swings in seasonal employment. The government attempts to adjust the data for those factors. Read the full report.

“I would argue strongly that market participants would be wise to pretty much ignore this figure, though I realize that will be a difficult thing to do 24 hours before payrolls,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital.

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