Initial jobless claims for the week ending July 25 increased by 9,000 to 197,000 (consensus: 203,000). Continuing jobless claims for the week ending July 18 decreased by 7,000 to 1.782 million.
The key takeaway from the report is initial claims remaining below 200,000, which is an historically low level and indicative of a solid labor market where layoff activity is quite low.