The U.S. Labor Department just released the weekly jobless claims and the reading fell by 42,000 down to 415,000. The week’s reading from a week ago was revised to 457,000 from 454,000. Dow Jones had estimates of roughly 423,000.
The four-week average hardly budged to 430,500. The army of unemployed measured by the continuing jobless claims fell by 84,000 to 3,925,000 as of two weeks ago.
In a separate release for the fourth quarter of 2010, the Nonfarm productivity rose by 2.6% versus 2.0% expected. Unit labor costs, the measure of wage inflation, is non-existent as the rate fell by -0.6% versus expectations for a flat reading. The Q4 figures compared to Q3 revised figures of 2.3% in productivity and -0.1% in the unit labor costs.
Another week with a drop, but nothing anywhere close enough to move the needle on the super-high unemployment rate yet.
JON C. OGG
The Average American Is Losing Momentum on Their Savings Every Day (Sponsor)
If you’re like many Americans and keep your money ‘safe’ in a checking or savings account, think again. The average yield on a savings account is a paltry .4%* today. Checking accounts are even worse.
But there is good news. To win qualified customers, some accounts are paying nearly 10x the national average! That’s an incredible way to keep your money safe and earn more at the same time. Our top pick for high yield savings accounts includes other benefits as well. You can earn up to 3.80% with a Checking & Savings Account today Sign up and get up to $300 with direct deposit. No account fees. FDIC Insured.
Click here to see how much more you could be earning on your savings today. It takes just a few minutes to open an account to make your money work for you.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
Our expert who first called NVIDIA in 2009 is predicting 2025 will see a historic AI breakthrough.
You can follow him investing $500,000 of his own money on our top AI stocks for free.