According to data from the US Department of Labor, 348,000 people filed for unemployment insurance last week, reaching a new pandemic-era low. The last time claims came in so low was March 14, 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit causing the economy to spiral into the deepest but briefest recession on record. For last week, markets were looking for 362,000 filings.
The latest unemployment figures reported a decline of 29,000 filings from the previous week.
Claims have been coming in lower, as employers are hanging on to their workers amid labor shortage as vaccinations allow the economy to reopen. More than half of the population has been fully immunized against coronavirus.
Even though the Delta COVID-19 variant is spreading fast, analysts do not expect large-scale business shutdowns.
Despite the promising figures, the American indices retreated as the markets expect the Federal Reserve to start asset tapering this year. USA500 and TECH100 lost 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively. USA30 shed 0.9%.
Sources: cnbc.com, forexfactory.com, reuters.com