The number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time fell unexpectedly last week, marking the second consecutive decline.
Initial jobless claims fell by 19,000 to 787,000 in the week ending Dec. 26, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected initial jobless claims to rise to 828,000. The total of last week’s initial claims was revised upwards by 3,000 to 806,000.
Certainly, the four-week moving average for new enrollments rose by 17,750 to 836,750, indicating that the labor market is still under pressure as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
“There is no real improvement in the data,” John Ryding, an economic adviser at Brean Capital, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “What we are seeing is a very difficult time in the economy with the resurgence of the virus that we have seen and the slow rollout of vaccination.”
The US records at least 181,998 new cases of coronavirus every day, based on a seven-day average calculated by CNBC using data from Johns Hopkins University. The number of hospital admissions in Covid in the country has also risen, reaching above 125,000 for the first time.
US lawmakers recently approved a $ 900 billion Covid stimulus package that includes $ 600 direct payments to most Americans. This week, the House passed a measure that would increase those payments to $ 2,000, but the Senate blocked it.
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