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Economy

New Jobless Claims Below Expectations

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By Paul Ausick Updated Published
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US_Dept_of_Labor
Ed Brown, via Wikimedia Commons
New claims for unemployment benefits fell from 348,000 to 343,000 last week, according to the weekly report from the U.S. Department of Labor. The consensus estimate called for a drop of 2,000. The data were released today due to tomorrow’s Fourth of July holiday.

The four-week average is down by a scant 750, the poorest showing in the past six weeks.

Better news came from the number of continuing claims, which dropped by 54,000 to a seasonally adjusted total of 2.93 million for the week ending June 22.

Combined with today’s report from ADP, which showed a gain of 188,000 new private sector jobs, today’s data dump on employment should put some air under stocks when markets open today. The effect may be larger than normal due to the relatively small number of traders who are working today.

Markets close today at 1:00 p.m. ET, so that the rest of us can get an early start to the holiday. Trading is expected to be light on Friday as well, when the Labor Department releases its report on nonfarm payrolls for June.

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About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

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