"The level of claims is now consistent with a healthy labor market turnover. But companies are still reluctant to hire and invest, so that's the real issue. For the economy to accelerate, we need to see acceleration in hiring."
- Yelena Shulyatyeva, U.S. economist at BNP Paribas
Consumer prices and jobless claims were in the centre of market's attention on Thursday. Last months' lessons taught us one thing– none of the world's central banks is ready to accept excessively low inflation. Moreover, the development in the labour market also play important role for each central bank. Therefore, some abnormal figures could increase market's volatility significantly. However, both jobless claims and inflation data came almost in line with analysts' forecasts. When having a look at market reaction it seems that investors are confident the Fed will continue cutting its monthly asset purchases at its meeting later this month and policymakers will offer no surprises.
As always on Thursday the Labor Department published its weekly jobless report. The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits slipped 2,000 to 326,000 in the week ended January 11, inching lower for a second consecutive week. The less-volatile four-week moving average turned lower 13,500 reaching 335,000.
A separate report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a core measure of inflation held steady at 1.7% in December from a year ago, while monthly core CPI remained unchanged at 0.1%. A broader measure of consumer prices advanced to 1.5% from 1.2% a month earlier.
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