New U.S. applications for unemployment benefits last week held steady at levels consistent with sustained labour market strength that could encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next month.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits were unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 276,000 for the week ended Nov. 7, the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's claims were unrevised.
Claims are not too far from levels last seen in the early 1970s. They have now held below the 300,000 threshold for 36 consecutive weeks, the longest stretch in years. Claims below this level are usually associated with a healthy jobs market.
Prices for U.S. Treasury debt held steady at lower levels, while the dollar rose slightly against the euro after the data. U.S. stock index futures extended losses.
Labour market strength, marked by a surge in job growth in October and a jobless rate that is now in a range many Fed officials see as consistent with full employment, has bolstered expectations of a liftoff in the U.S. central bank's benchmark overnight interest rate at the Dec. 15-16 policy meeting.
The Fed has kept its short-term interest rate near zero since December 2008. Last month, non-farm payrolls recorded their largest gain since December 2014 and the unemployment rate fell to a seven-and-a-half-year low of 5%
Economists had expected claims to drop to 270,000 last week. A department analyst said there were no special factors influencing the data and no states had been estimated.
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