Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Fall For Second Consecutive Week

• The four-week moving average for jobless claims, which smoothens weekly volatility, fell by 750 to 216,750.
• Continuing claims, which refer to the number of people claiming unemployment benefits beyond the first week, hovered near 1.92 million for the week ended December 13, increasing by 38,000 over the previous week.
• The largest increase in claims was in Rhode Island at 452, followed by West Virginia at 325, whereas the largest decrease was in Illinois at 7,242 and New York at 5,720.

Weekly jobless claims fell more than expected for the second consecutive week, according to data released a day early by the U.S. Department of Labor due to Christmas.

Jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 214,000 in the week ended December 20. This was lower than a Dow Jones estimate of 224,000, as cited by MarketWatch. The four-week moving average for jobless claims, which smooths weekly volatility, fell by 750 to 216,750.

This is the second consecutive weekly decline in jobless claims – benefit applications fell by 13,000 last week to 224,000, according to Labor Department data.

Economists expected the claims to stand at 225,000, according to a Dow Jones estimate.

Continuing Claims Rise

Continuing claims, which refer to the number of people claiming unemployment benefits beyond the first week, hovered near 1.92 million for the week ended December 13, increasing by 38,000 over the previous week.

The largest increase in claims was in Rhode Island at 452, followed by West Virginia at 325, whereas the largest decrease was in Illinois at 7,242 and New York at 5,720.

Resilient Economy

The U.S. economy continues to show resilience, with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growing at an annualized rate of 4.3% in the third quarter (Q3), beating Wall Street estimates of 3.2%.

However, Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, warned last week that the relationship between employment and GDP is under strain.

“Historically, robust economic growth has been inextricably linked to strong job creation. But this relationship appears to be under pressure, meaning that growth in 2026 may be accompanied by a relatively stagnant labor market,” he said.

Meanwhile, U.S. equities traded in the green on Wednesday morning. At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was up by 0.01%, the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) gained 0.03%, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) rose 0.1%. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘bullish’ territory.

The iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) was up by 0.12% at the time of writing.

Also See: RPTX Stock Soars Pre-Market After Gilead Agrees To Acquire Investigational Cancer Drug

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