JPM economist Daniel Silver noted.....>

US DATA REACT: JPM economist Daniel Silver noted "initial jobless claims

declined 14,000 to 284,000 during the week ending Sept. 9," a "somewhat more

favorable" outcome "than expectations but the data still look significantly

elevated" vs trend before Hurricane Harvey. 

- He adds Labor Dept noted both Hurricane Harvey and Irma affected "claims data

reported this week and it looks clear that the storms have distorted the data.

But it's unclear whether or not the reported data accurately represent the

disruptions caused by the storms because the Dept of Labor had to estimate

figures for some areas that were affected by Irma (and we do not see anything

out of the ordinary in the data estimated for Florida)."

- "So it remains to be seen how significant the disruptions will be and how long

they will last," he said. "The reference period for the Sept. employment report

is the wk ending Sept. 16"; "initial claims data for this wk will be released on

Sept. 21.