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"We're seeing improvement in labor-market conditions"
- Julia Coronado, chief economist at BNP Paribas
The number of Americans claiming for unemployment benefits tumbled to 366 thousand last week from 385 thousand the week before, said the Department of Labor on Thursday. Economists expected the reading to increase to 389 thousand.
"We're seeing improvement in labor-market conditions," said Julia Coronado, chief economist for North America at BNP Paribas in New York. "It's good to see claims moving this much below 400,000."
"You have to be careful about reading too much into any one week of data, but it's very encouraging," said economist Andrew Grantham at CIBC World Markets. "Companies are pushing off concerns about the rest of the world and are more confident about their own prospects."