- Tom Linebarger, Chief Executive Officer at Cummins Inc.
The number of people who applied for U.S. jobless benefits tumbled to the lowest level since February 2008 in the week ended October 6, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday. Initial applications for unemployment benefits declined 30,000 to 339,000, above analysts' expectations for a fall of 1,000 to 370,000. The four-week moving average dropped 11,500 to 364,000, reaching the lowest level since late March.
"We continued to see weak economic data in a number of regions during the third quarter, increasing the level of uncertainty regarding the direction of the global economy," said Tom Linebarger, Chief Executive Officer at Cummins Inc.
Also Thursday, the Commerce Department said the U.S. trade gap widened broadly in August, as exports fell for the third consecutive month. The U.S. trade deficit fell by 4.1 per cent to $44.2 billion from $42.5 billion in July, while exports tumbled 1% to $181.3 billion in August.
The Standard & Poor's 500 advanced 0.02 per cent to 1,432.84. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 0.14 per cent to 13,326.39. The Nasdaq Composite erased 0.08 per cent to 3,049.42.
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