- Christopher Low, chief economist at FTN Financia
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits surprisingly rose last week , but still remained close to pre-recession levels, indicating a slow pace of layoffs. The Labor Deparment said that initial jobless claims in the week ended August 9 increased 311K up from 289K, overshooting economists forecast for a 307K rise. The four-week average of claims, considered a better measure of labour market trends as it strips out week-to-week volatility, rose 2,000 to 295,750, still pointing to strengthening job market conditions. A significant decline in layoffs, which has pushed claims down to their pre-recession levels, has been the major driver of an improving job market. But hiring is also gaining momentum. A report on Tuesday showed hiring rose in June to the highest level since February 2008. The number of job openings that month was the highest since February 2001. The firming labor market picture has some economists betting on an early interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve.
A separate report showed prices of goods imported to the U.S. declined in June, influenced by a drop in the petroleum price. U.S. import prices fell 0.2% last month from June, and inched higher 0.8% in July form the previous year, compared with June's 1.1% annual gain.
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