| Home Page
News You Can Use
Jobless Claims Drop, But Labor Still Soft
Reuters
Thursday, February 19, 2004; 11:59 AM
By Tim Ahmann
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans signing up for initial jobless benefits fell much more than expected last week, a government report showed on Thursday, suggesting the labor market was healing, though only slowly.
Separately, a private research firm said a gauge of the nation's economic health pointed to a sustained recovery, although it warned that the economic path "could get bumpy" if job and income growth did not pick up.
First-time claims for state unemployment aid dropped 24,000 to 344,000 in the week ended Feb. 14, the Labor Department said. The previous week's total was boosted by unseasonably cold weather in parts of the country.
The drop was the largest since the week ended Nov. 1 and was greater than Wall Street had expected. Markets had looked for claims to fall to 353,000 from the 363,000 originally reported for the previous week.
A rise in claims in the prior two weeks was attributed to unseasonably cold weather in the Southeast that kept construction workers at home. A department official suggested warmer weather helped fuel last week's drop.
"I think on balance, the report is consistent with continued, moderate, but sluggish improvement in the labor market," said Alex Beuzelin, a foreign exchange analyst at Ruesch International in Washington whose assessment was shared by many economists.
The job market has proven stubbornly weak, despite an otherwise strong economy.
The Conference Board said on Thursday its index of leading economic indicators, a gauge of future economic activity, rose 0.5 percent last month, the biggest gain since October. But it said consumer confidence could stumble if the labor market failed to strengthen.
The drop in jobless claims contributed to gains in the stock market. At midmorning, the blue chip Dow Jones industrial average was up 60 points, or 0.5 percent at 10,732. The report also pushed prices of U.S. Treasury bonds down a bit.
Continue with:
| 
