Labor market Initial claims for US unemployment benefits rise surprisingly sharply

The financial markets pay attention to initial jobless claims because they are seen as an indicator of the US labor market. The recent strong increase plays an important role in the Fed's decisions.

Washington (awp/dpa) - In the USA, the number of initial jobless claims rose surprisingly sharply last week. Applications for aid rose by 33,000 to 258,000, according to the Department of Labor in Washington. Economists had expected an average of only 230,000 applications. The number of aid applications is therefore the highest it has been since August 2023.

The financial markets pay attention to the weekly initial claims because they are considered an indicator of the US labor market. In the US, the labor market plays an important role in the Fed's monetary policy decisions.

The US government's most recent labor market report for September was unexpectedly strong and showed a solid situation. At the interest rate meeting in September, the Fed lowered the key interest rate for the first time since the wave of inflation, by a significant 0.50 percentage points. Further interest rate cuts are expected in the current year. However, experts are only expecting small interest rate cuts of 0.25 percentage points each at the next interest rate meetings in November and December, partly due to the solid labor market data.

SDA