Initial Jobless Claims Plunge to Jan 2006 Lows, Government Warns Of “Seasonal Volatility”

So much for the idea of ‘slack’ in the economy, initial jobless claims just plunged 19k week-over-week to 284k (vs 307k expected) – the lowest since Jan 2006 (which was the lowest print since May 2000). This is the biggest beat of expectations in over 2 years. Continuing claims fell modestly. Let’s not go popping the champagne corks of full recovery quite yet as non-seaonally-adjusted claims collapsed by their most in 6 months as the government saw fit to warn data-consumers that “claims are often very volatile this time of year,” as auto shutdowns can cause claims to fluctuate. In other words, ignore this noise.