Americans applied for fewer unemployment benefits at the end of 2019, the Labor Department announced Thursday. The number dropped by 2,000 to 222,000 in the seven days up until December 28, although the four-week average ticked up by 4,750 to 233,250.
The report beat expectations that had predicted 225,000 new claims, according to Reuters. The result marks the third consecutive weekly decline.
“I think we’re definitely going to see slightly smaller growth month by month than what we saw in 2019 and that’s consistent with economists expectations’ of the macroeconomy weakening slightly,” in the labor market, Beth Akers, Manhattan Institute senior fellow, told Cheddar.
She will be keeping an eye on manufacturing trends and changes in policy regarding trade for indications about how job numbers will grow (or shrink) in 2020.
“If you’re looking to something to be concerned about, you can look at the four-week moving average, which is up from what it’s been over the course of the year,” Akers said. “But, by and large, these are really strong, positive numbers for the labor market.”
American private aviation company Wheels Up saw a substantial revenue increase in its Q4 earnings. With bookings ramping up for the summer — along with hopes of being on the tail-end of COVID-19 — the company is looking at a promising upcoming quarter as well. CEO Kenny Dichter joined Cheddar News to talk about the earnings reports as well as the company's new app development. "We’re following that Uber, Airbnb, Amazon playbook and are really going to disrupt this space through technology," he said.
Players have voted to accept Major League Baseball’s latest offer for a new labor deal, paving the way to end a 99-day lockout and salvage a 162-game regular season that will begin April 7.
Co-founders of the 'Female Founder Collective,' Rebecca Minkoff and Alison Wyatt, join Cheddar News to discuss this year's 'Female Founders Day' conference in Austin, Texas.
The new show ‘Fix My Flip’ is offering help to flippers from HGTV’s own Page Turner. The real estate expert and host joined Cheddar News to talk about her series and share advice for anyone looking to break into the world of flipping houses. "I'm coming in with this whole, just, book of 'we're gonna stop doing this and this is what we're going to start doing to get you out of this hole that you've dug,'” she said.
Amazon says it will be closing down all 68 of its pop-up shops throughout the U.S. and United Kingdom. The e-commerce giant makes the move as it looks to evolve its other brick and mortar chains like Whole Foods and eventually grow into a physical retail powerhouse. Cheddar News was joined by Deren Baker, CEO of Edge by Ascential, to talk more about Amazon's plans to become a retail powerhouse.
NFT and digital collecting platform Neon recently raised $3 million in seed funding. The startup also launched the world's first NFT vending machine, located in New York City's Financial District. Neon says it aims to be the simplest and most accessible way to buy, sell, and trade NFTs, both online and in the real world. Kyle Zappitell, CEO of Neon, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
