The Dow Jones (DJIA) opened Thursday’s trading session lower after jobless claims broke a three-week streak of declines.
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Initial jobless claims for the week ended January 3 grew by 8,000 to 208,000, below the estimate of 210,000. Continuing jobless claims were 1.914 million, above the estimate of 1.9 million.
Jobless Claims Steady as Markets Await Nonfarm Payrolls
Initial jobless claims, which act as a gauge of layoffs, have remained in a range between 200,000 and 250,000 for most of the past year. Continuing jobless claims, which track the number of people receiving unemployment benefits, have remained steady as well.
It’s worth noting that the data points fall within a holiday period, which tends to be marked by volatility. “There’s seasonality involved here and if you pan out, there’s still a case to be made for the labor market’s stabilization,” said iCapital Chief Investment Strategist Sonali Basak in an X post.
Investors will receive an important labor market update on Friday when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes its nonfarm payrolls report.
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