What the numbers say: New unemployment claims hit 264,000 last week, an 18-month high. Relevance: Last week's claims were 22,000 higher than in the preceding week and 19,000 above analysts' expectations. Meanwhile, the number of continuing claims increased by 12,000 to 1.813 million in the week ending on April 29. These figures indicate that layoffs are increasing and that people who have lost their jobs are struggling to find new positions. What's next: A continued increase in unemployment claims over the next few weeks would indicate that the superhot U.S. labor market is cooling down after the unemployment rate hit 3.4% in April, a multi-decade low and down from 3.5% in March. |
