Topline
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week to a seven-month low, the Labor Department said, as concerns about a struggling labor market persist.
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Key facts
There were a total of 216,000 claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. last week, according to the Labor Department reportedAccording to FactSet, this is down from the 220,000 reported the week before and below Wall Street estimates that claims will rise to 230,000.
That is the lowest number of applications since 219,000 were reported in the week of April 3.
Continuing unemployment claims, a measure of the number of people receiving benefits, rose to 1.96 million, just 7,000 more than the previous week.
What to pay attention to
Unemployment data for November and October. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said it would partially release October employment data, noting that it would be included in the November report and that the unemployment rate for October would not be released. The November employment report was postponed until December 16, meaning the Federal Reserve will not have inflation and employment data for November and October before discussing a possible rate cut on December 10. Investors are betting on an 82.9% chance that the Fed will cut rates by a quarter point to between 3.5% and 3.75%, according to CME’s FedWatch. tool.
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