Following on from last week’s positive non-farm payroll figures there was more positive news for the US labour market. Applications for jobless benefits in the week ending October 6th dropped to the lowest level seen for four years.
Despite economist predicting that the figure would come in at 370,000 claims the 30,000 decrease actually took the figure to 339,000 – the best result since the beginning of 2008.
Equity strategist Philip Orlando was upbeat about the news, but urged caution too. He stated: ‘The economy is improving, we’re doing a better job. I think we should be going faster but this is a phenomenal claims number. So now the question is, Is this number real or is it going to get revised away next week? Give me some meat so I understand why it’s a good number and whether it’s sustainable.’
Industry experts will be waiting to see the state breakdown, particularly as a Labour Department spokesman attributed much of the drop in claims to just one state.
A separate report today showed that in August the US trade deficit widened by 4.1 per cent.
The increase from 42.5 billion Dollars to 44.2 billion is thought to stem mainly from the global economic slowdown weakening American export demand.
As of 16.50
The Pound to Euro exchange rate is currently trading at 1.2394
The Pound to US Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.6030
The Pound to Australian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.5619
The Euro to US Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 1.2933
The Euro to Pound exchange rate is currently trading at 0.8066
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