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US jobless claims drop to lowest since July
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THE number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, suggesting that a sharp slowdown in job growth last month was probably an aberration.
While other data yesterday showed housing starts declined in August, upward revisions for groundbreaking in July offered hope that the housing market was continuing to gradually improve.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 36,000 to a seasonally adjusted 280,000 for the week ended on Saturday, the lowest level since July, the Labor Department said.
Economists had forecast claims falling to only 305,000 last week. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, slipped 4,750 to 299,500.
The data came a day after the Federal Reserve renewed a pledge to keep interest rates near zero for a “considerable time,” while hinting at a faster pace of rate hikes than the US central bank was signaling a few months ago.
In a separate report, the Commerce Department said housing starts fell 14.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual 956,000-unit pace last month. July’s starts were revised to show a 1.12-million-unit rate, the highest level since November 2007, instead of the previously reported 1.09-million unit rate. That helped to take some of the sting out of the report, which also showed permits fell 5.6 percent to a 998,000-unit pace in August.
Housing is clawing back after suffering a setback following a spike in mortgage rates last year. It, however, remains constrained by a relatively high unemployment rate and stringent lending practices by financial institutions.
But with the labor market gaining traction, economists expect housing activity to accelerate next year.
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