Data release Thursday shows seven straight weeks of decline in the four-week moving average of initial claims for unemployment. The moving average is widely seen as the best gauge of underlying initial claims trending.

Additionally, the number of people collecting long-term unemployment benefits in the week ended October 10 dropped to the lowest since March. This measure has also trended lower for five straight weeks.

These two are clear signs that unemployment is close to peaking and that the October employment report will likely show improvement over Septembers report.

The insured unemployment rate, which measures the percentage of the insured labor force that is jobless, also edged down to 4.5 percent in the week ended October 10 from 4.6 percent the prior week.

Another hopeful sign was that the number of mass layoffs, defined as job cuts involving at least 50 people from a single employer, fell by 129 to 2,561 last month.

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