U.S. Jobless Claims Declined More Than Forecast Last Week
By
Alex Kowalski - Jul 14, 2011 10:28 AM ET Bloomberg
The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits dropped last week to the
lowest level since April, a sign weakness in the labor market may be starting
to abate.
Applications for jobless benefits decreased 22,000 in the
week ended July 9 to 405,000, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists
forecast 415,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News
survey. The data included fewer layoffs in the auto
industry than typical this time of the year, according to an agency
spokesman.
A sustained reduction in firings is a first step toward a
pickup in hiring after employers in June added the fewest workers in nine
months and the jobless rate rose. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
S. Bernanke said yesterday that
“disappointing” job growth in the last two months was due to temporary effects,
such as high fuel costs and delayed parts shipments from Japan
after the March earthquake and tsunami.
“The claims numbers suggests a positive development,” said Stephen
Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities LLC in Stamford, Connecticut.
“Part of what’s going on is that in the auto sector a number of factories took
their normal seasonal downturn early since a lot of them weren’t able to get
parts back in May. They took their hiatus early.”
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.6 percent to
1,325.90 at 10:22 a.m. in New York. The yield on the benchmark 10-year
Treasury note climbed to 2.92 percent from 2.88 percent late yesterday.