-Janet Yellen
The number of people applying first-time unemployment benefits in the US fell from 277,000 to 259,000, gradually beating the 277,000 forecast, as reported by the Department of Labor. Strong data suggests that the labor market is on the path to recover from its recent period of softness. Moreover, the governor of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen stated, that a lower figure of the Unemployment Claims indicates improvements in the labor market overall, having a greater impact than the poor payrolls data.
In the meantime, the US Manufacturing PMI also showed signs of improvements, with the index rising from 50.7 to 51.4 in May. Despite such an increase, the index still remained below its 2009-2013 average of 54.1. The main gauge of weaker-than-average results were falling oil prices, hurting manufacturers connected with the energy industry by lowering demand for equipment in their sector.
Finally, the US New Home Sales numbers were released, coming out worse than anticipated, with sales falling 6% to 551,000 units (annualized) in May. Moreover, the April's reading was revised downward, namely from 619,000 to 586,000, as reported by the Department of Commerce, also contributing to the poor situation.
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