U.S. Jobless Claims Fall To 218,000 Last Week

Continuing claims, an indicator of the size of the total unemployed population, increased by 2,000 to 1.92 million.

The U.S. labor market showed improvement over the past week, with jobless claims coming in cooler than expected. 

Weekly jobless claims fell by 14,000 to 218,000 in the week ended September 20, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Market Watch had forecast the figure to be 235,000. The prior week’s jobless claims were revised to 232,00 from 231,000.

Continuing claims, an indicator of the size of the total unemployed population, increased by 2,000 to 1.92 million, also lower than the consensus estimate of 1.93 million. The continuing-claims data lag the initial-claims data by a week.

Meanwhile, the second-quarter (Q2) GDP was revised to 3.8%, down 0.5% from the prior estimate, the Commerce Department reported on Thursday. The figure stood above the expected 3.3%. The adjustment reflected stronger-than-expected consumer spending. GDP had contracted 0.6% in the first quarter (Q1). 

The data comes in a week after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate by a quarter point to a range of 4.00% to 4.25%. However, Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned this week that “there is no risk-free path” as policymakers balance the threat of higher inflation against a cooling labor market.

While noting that equity valuations remain “fairly high,” Powell said financial stability risks are not elevated, though near-term inflation pressures remain tilted to the upside and employment risks to the downside.

The U.S. stock market fell in pre-market trade on Thursday. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was down 0.52%, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) slipped 0.26%, and the Nasdaq-100 tracking Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) moved 0.75% lower. 

In pre-market losses hold, this would mark a third day of decline for the S&P 500. However, retail sentiment around SPY on Stocktwits remained in ‘bullish’ territory over the past day. Meanwhile, retail sentiment around QQQ fell to ‘bearish’ from the ‘neutral’ zone.

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