The U.S. labor market hit another milestone last week as less than 200,000 American's applied for first-time unemployment benefits.
Not only have weekly jobless claims fallen to pre-pandemic levels, but the report said that this is the lowest level of claims since November 1969.
Wednesday, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, the U.S. Labor Department said that weekly jobless claims fell by 71,000 to 199,000, down from the previous week's revised estimate of 268,000 claims.
The data was significantly better than expected as economists were looking for a reading of around 259,000 claims.
Today Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve shocked markets by forecasting two rate hikes for 2023. The real "shock" would be if he actually delivered on those words.