US jobless claims rebound more than expected to 200,000

The US Labor Department reported on Thursday that first-time jobless claims for unemployment benefits surged to 200,000 in the week ending November 7, surpassing expectations. This marked a 9,000 increase from the previous week's revised figure of 191,000. Economists had anticipated claims to rise to 195,000 from the originally reported 189,000 for the prior week.

The unexpected rise in jobless claims follows a week in which they had dropped to their lowest point since July 18th, 2019, when they had hit a multi-decade low of 189,000.

Michael Pearce, chief US economist at Oxford Economics, noted that the spike in jobless claims last week marked a break from a long period of stability, yet still showed a downward trend compared to year-ago levels and indicated a continued slow pace of layoffs. He also cautioned that as the holiday season approached, seasonal variations in initial claims would become more pronounced.

The report also revealed that the less volatile four-week moving average of initial claims stood at 195,250, unchanged from the previous week's revised average. Additionally, continuing claims, which measure the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, fell by 20,000 to 1.697 million in the week ending October 31st. The four-week moving average of continuing claims also decreased slightly to 1,707,750, down by 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 1,709,250.