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The numbers: Initial jobless benefit claims fell by 16,000 to 193,000 in the week ended September 24, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday.
That’s the lowest level of claims since late April.
Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had estimated new claims would rise 2,000 from last week’s initial estimate of 213,000.
Key details: The number of people already collecting jobless benefits fell by 29,000 to 1.35 million.
Big picture: Federal Reserve interest rate hikes are not yet cooling the economy. In fact, there are more stories in the media about worker shortages than layoffs.
For instance, the U.S. Education Department said that teacher shortages across the country are worse than feared.
What are they saying? “With labor still very hard to find, firms probably are holding on to people who under normal conditions would have been laid off. At this point, then, the softening of the labor market which the Fed wants appears unlikely to come via rising layoffs,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Market reaction: U.S. stocks
DJIA,
SPX,
opened lower on Thursday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
rebounded to 3.8% after slumping in the prior trading session on the Bank of England’s move to support the UK bond market.
