Anyone Surprised by Today’s Initial Claims?

The Labor Department released its weekly initial and continuing unemployment claims yesterday.  Overall, the Department’s figures paint a picture of a recovered economy, with initial seasonally adjusted claims sitting at 371K and continuing claims at 3.109 million. On the continuing claims figures, the figures look relatively good, with this week’s figures declining by 127K. Continuing unemployment insurance claims haven’t been this low since the spring 2008.  In terms of the cycles associated with continuing claims, today’s figures are still about 755K above where they stood at the height of the most recent cycle low of 2.534 million. Will continuing claims…