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.”
Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines are proposing to combine in a $2.9 billion deal. If it goes through, the combination would create a larger discount airline to compete against the nation’s dominant carriers.
Stocks ended another bumpy day with mixed results on Wall Street Monday.
Consolidation has been transforming the industry for at least the past two years, but much of the activity was happening in the background. That all changed in the past month.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
U.S. employers stepped up hiring in January, adding 467,000 jobs despite a wave of omicron inflections that sickened millions of workers, kept many consumers at home and left businesses from restaurants to manufacturers short-staffed.
Stock indexes ended mixed and Treasury yields jumped Friday as Wall Street’s expectations rise that the Federal Reserve may soon start raising interest rates sharply.
PlayVS CEO and founder Delane Parnell is helping shift the culture of amateur sports across the U.S. through esports.
A historic plunge in the stock price of Facebook’s parent company helped yank other tech stocks lower on Wall Street Thursday, abruptly ending a four-day winning streak for the market.
For Meta, the sell-off marks another failed attempt by the social media giant to reinvent its core business model. What it means for other stablecoin projects, however, is still an open question.
Starbucks had a strong holiday season in the U.S., but those results were offset by higher labor and commodity costs and weaker sales in China.
