Job seekers accompany the CUNY Big Apple Job and Internship Fair at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York.
Richard Levine | Corbis | Getty Counterparts
The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits dropped for a fifth straight week last week, hinting the labor market remained strong despite a recent slowdown in job growth.
Initial claims for state unemployment goods dropped 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 204,000 for the week ended Jan. 11, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
Economists counted by Reuters had forecast claims would rise slightly to 216,000 in the latest week from the unrevised 214,000 come in for the previous week.
The U.S. dollar pared losses against a basket of currencies and U.S. stock index futures held gains after the unfetter of the data. Prices of U.S. Treasuries were trading lower.
Though a report last week showed a slowdown in job evolvement in December and the increase in the annual wage gain retreating to below 3.0%, the labor market remains on solid foundation.
The strong labor market should help sustain consumer spending and probably keep the longest economic inflation on record, now in its 11th year, on track.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday described the economy as having continued to expand modestly in the fixed six weeks of 2019. The U.S. central bank has signaled that it could keep interest rates unchanged at least auspices of this year after reducing borrowing costs three times in 2019.
While claims are trending lower, there are some worrying registers emerging. The claims data showed layoffs in manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, construction, educational services and accommodation, and comestibles services industries in late 2019 and early 2020.
Some of the job losses in manufacturing, which were spread across at tiny eight states, could be related to the 18-month trade war between the United States and China, which has hurt responsibility confidence and undercut capital expenditure. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He signed an initial have dealings deal on Wednesday, a first step toward defusing the trade war.
—Reuters contributed to this report.