The Labor Department's weekly report on first-time jobless claims has made for some pretty grim reading these past three years. Last week's findings mark a turning point--finally, the recovery is actually recovering things.

Those things would be jobs. They're getting easier to find and not as tough to keep. The seasonally-adjusted figure of 368,000 new jobless claims represented the "lowest level in more than 2-1/2 years," beating the Reuters forecast by 30,000 claims. More important, per Reuters, is the fact new jobless claims "have now held below the 400,000 threshold for a second straight week. Anything below the 400,000 benchmark is "widely viewed as signalling strong jobs growth" with economists anticipating it will be "only a matter of time before this [job growth] reflected in the payrolls numbers."

Even Wall Street seems to be buying this as the turnaround's turning point. The futures market enjoyed a "bullish open" Thursday.  Treasury prices also declined with yields rising, writes The Wall Street Journal's Bradley Davis. Before the data was released, the benchmark 10-year Treasury note "yielded 3.488%." After the announcement, the "price was down 16/32 to yield 3.531%."

Business Insider's Joe Weisenthal concedes the findings might seem "pretty minor" compared to the new unemployment data due out tomorrow. But there's no arguing that "the trend is good."

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Ray Gustini