The U.S. Department of Labor issued its weekly report on initial claims for unemployment insurance this morning. Nationwide, the number of seasonally adjusted claims was 6,606,000 last week. This is 261,000 less than the (upwardly revised) number of claims for the previous week, 6,867,000, which is the record.

The 4-week moving average of seasonally adjusted claims was 4,265,500, up from last week’s (revised) 2,666,750.

The state Employment Security Department will issue its report for Washington later this morning.