On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that initial jobless claims rose to 221,000 for last week (October 27-November 2), up 3,000 from the previous week.
This figure slightly surpassed economists’ expectations of 220,000, as surveyed by Dow Jones.
Continuing jobless claims, which track the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for more than two consecutive weeks, increased by 39,000 to 1.892 million for the week from October 20 to October 26.
Initial jobless claims spiked in early to mid-October due to the impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Milton but have shown signs of moderation.
Nevertheless, concerns about the U.S. economic outlook persist, with Wall Street keeping a close eye on labor market trends.
