The Dow Jones (DJIA) is set to open Thursday’s trading session in the red in the face of a better-than-expected jobs report. For the week ended July 19, the number of people filing for initial unemployment benefits fell by 4,000 week-over-week to 217,000. That came in below the consensus estimate for 226,000 claims.
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The data point signals that the labor market has remained resilient under the threat of unprecedented tariffs from the Trump administration.
Continuing Jobless Claims Above Expectations
Continuing jobless claims, which lag initial jobless claims data by one week, increased by 4,000 to 1.955 million, above the estimate for 1.954 million. The higher-than-expected figure shows that employers are hesitant to hire.
“This is a frozen labor market. The good news is layoffs are not picking up,” said Navy Federal Credit Union Chief Economist Heather Long.
Overall, the labor market remains strong with no consistent signs of structural damage. This reduces the urgency for the Fed to lower interest rates, since rate cuts are typically used to stimulate employment during periods of weakness.
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