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New filings for jobless benefits fall in US
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The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, pointing to steadily improving labor market conditions, despite two straight months of weak hiring.
Other data yesterday showed relentlessly cold weather putting a strain on household budgets, with electricity and heating fuel prices surging in January. However, inflation pressures remained muted.
Initial claims for state jobless benefits fell 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 336,000, the Labor Department said. That was mostly in line with economists’ expectations.
The claims data covered the survey week for February’s nonfarm payrolls report. Snow storms hit parts of the country last week, which could have kept some workers at home.
Bitterly cold weather was blamed for a sharp slowdown in hiring in December and January’s marginal bounce back. Claims have been tucked in a 325,000-348,000 range this year suggesting no fundamental shift in labor market conditions.
In a second report, the department said strong gains in the price of household energy had accounted for most of the 0.1 percent rise in its Consumer Price Index in January.
The CPI had risen 0.2 percent in December, and last month’s rise was in line with economists’ expectations.
In January, electricity prices rose 1.8 percent, the largest gain since March 2010. Natural gas prices surged 3.6 percent. That was the largest rise since April. The cost of heating oil jumped 3.7 percent, the biggest increase since September 2012.
The increases, which offset a 1 percent fall in the price of gasoline, hit household budgets as incomes barely grow.
In a third report, the department said weekly average earnings adjusted for inflation rose 0.1 percent in January after sliding 0.5 percent in December.
Consumer prices added 1.6 percent in the 12 months to January, after increasing 1.5 percent in December.
Excluding the energy and food components, the so-called core CPI also rose 0.1 percent in January for a second straight month.
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