Advertisement
U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Extend Pullback
(RTTNews) - A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday unexpectedly showed a continued decline by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended August 10th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 227,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level of 234,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 235,000 from the 233,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Jobless claims continued to give back ground after reaching their highest level in almost a year in the week ended July 27th.
"After being propped up by special factors for several weeks, initial jobless fell in the week ended August 10 to their lowest level since early July," said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
She added, "We never read too much into one week's claims report, but the data are consistent with our view that while the labor market is softening it isn't weak enough to warrant more than a 25bps rate cut at the Fed's September meeting."
The report said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged down to 236,500, a decrease of 4,500 from the previous week's revised average of 241,000.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also slipped by 7,000 to 1.864 million in the week ended August 3rd, pulling back off their highest level since November 2021.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average of continuing claims crept up by 1,000 to 1.862 million, reaching the highest level since November 2021.
U.S. Consumer Sentiment Reaches Five-Month High In July
U.S. Housing Starts Rebound More Than Expected In June
U.S. Housing Starts Surge 4.6% In June, More Than Expected
U.S. Business Inventories Remain Unchanged For Second Straight Month
U.S. Homebuilder Confidence Modestly Improves In July
Philly Fed Index Surges To Five-Month High In July
U.S. Import Prices Inch Up 0.1% In June, Less Than Expected
