U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ended November 28 was 712,000, a 75,000 decline from the previous week and below expected 775,000, according to the Department of Labor press release. Continuing claims fell 569,000 to 5.52 million in the week ending November 21 to remain below the expected 5.8 million.
- Investors are keen on Friday’s monthly jobs report, with analysts projecting payroll increases by about 475,000 and the jobless rate to fall to 6.8% from 6.9%
- The fall in initial claims could be due to the difficulty of adjusting for Thanksgiving-Ian Shepherdson, Chief Economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
- All except 10 states and territories posted unadjusted falls in initial claims last week, with the highest drops in California, Texas, Michigan, and Georgia.
- Despite the improvements, the jobless claims are still above pre-pandemic levels amidst a labor market challenged by rising COVID-19 cases and tightening business restrictions.
U.S. stocks are currently gaining. SPY is up 0.052%, QQQ: NASDAQ is up 0.29%
