Meanwhile, The Data Is A Mixed Bag

348,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, down markedly from the prior week and a new pandemic-era low. Consensus expected 364,000, so the latest "real time" read on the labor market represented a sizable beat. The range, from more than three-dozen economists, was 340,000 to 395,000. The four-week moving average fell to 377,750 (figure below), the lowest since March 14, 2020. At 2.82 million, continuing claims for the week of August 7 matched estimates. The drop in initi