An employment sign is seen on the window of a department store on August 02, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Initial claims for unemployment insurance totaled less than expected last week, countering other signs that the labor market is weakening.
First-time filings for jobless benefits totaled 233,000 for the week, a decline of 17,000 from the previous week’s upwardly revised level and lower than the Dow Jones estimate for 240,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The report comes with Wall Street on edge amid signs that job growth is slowing and even signaling a potential recession on the horizon. Stock market futures shaved losses following the 8:30 a.m. ET release while Treasury yields held higher.
While the top-line number held allay some fears, the level of continuing claims, which run a week behind, edged higher to 1.875 million, the highest since Nov. 27, 2021.
Jobless claims have been trending higher for much of the year, though still remain relatively tame. The four-week average rose to 240,750, the highest in nearly a year.
Concerns escalated over the state of the labor market following last Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report, which showed an increase of just 114,000 in July. At the same time, the unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, triggering the so-called Sahm Rule that gauges recessions by measuring changes in the jobless rate.
Markets have been highly volatile since then, with a huge three-day selloff starting last Thursday that ignited worries of deeper troubles in the U.S. economy.
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