Unemployment claims unpaniced

A pleasant surprise for the economy, last week’s claims didn’t balloon.

In the week ending Oct. 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 461,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 477,000. It is estimated that the effects of Hurricane Ike in Texas added approximately 12,000 claims to the total. The 4-week moving average was 483,250, an increase of 750 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 482,500.