US Unemployment Claims Fell to 8 Week Low

January 5, 2017 Share Print 0

Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits declined to the lowest level in eight weeks, showing volatility typical around the holiday period.

Jobless claims dropped by 28,000 to 235,000 in the week ended Dec. 31, a Labor Department report showed Thursday in Washington. The median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 260,000.

While the figures usually show swings around the year-end holidays, firms have generally avoided firings as the job market tightens and the supply of available workers shrinks. Employers probably continued to add staffers at a solid pace last month, analysts estimated ahead of data due Friday from the Labor Department.

via Bloomberg

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Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse

Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.