US Jobless Claims Fall Signalling Solid Labor Market

The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, pointing to a solid labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 281,000 for the week ended July 11, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

The decline reversed the prior week’s rise and ended three straight weeks of increases.

Claims tend to be volatile during the summer when automakers normally shut assembly plants for annual retooling. However, some of the companies keep production running, which can throw off a model the government uses to smooth the data for seasonal fluctuations.

A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing the data and no states had been estimated.

U.S. financial markets were little moved by the data.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Wednesday that labor market conditions had “improved substantially,” but added that they were not yet consistent with maximum employment.

via Reuters

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.