Jobless Claims Rise Higher Than Expected After Big Drop During Thanksgiving Week

• The four-week moving average for jobless claims, which smooths weekly volatility, rose by 2,000 to 216,750.
• Continuing claims, which refer to the number of people claiming unemployment benefits beyond the first week, hovered in the 1.84 million range for the week ended November 29, decreasing by 99,000 over the previous week.
• The largest increase in claims came from Pennsylvania at 2,208, followed by Wisconsin at 1,092, whereas the largest decrease in claims was from California at 19,844 and Texas at 7,836.

Weekly jobless claims rose higher than expected after registering a drop during the Thanksgiving week.

According to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday, jobless claims rose by 44,000 to 236,000 in the week ended December 6. This was higher than a Dow Jones estimate of 223,000, as cited by MarketWatch.

The four-week moving average for jobless claims, which smooths weekly volatility, rose by 2,000 to 216,750.

Continuing Claims Fall

Continuing claims, which refer to the number of people claiming unemployment benefits beyond the first week, hovered in the 1.84 million range for the week ended November 29, decreasing by 99,000 over the previous week.

The largest increase in claims came from Pennsylvania at 2,208, followed by Wisconsin at 1,092, whereas the largest decrease in claims was from California at 19,844 and Texas at 7,836.

Unemployment Expectations Rise

According to a preliminary survey by the University of Michigan, a majority of the respondents expect unemployment to rise in 2026. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday stated that the labor market appears to be “gradually cooling,” while addressing a press conference following the Fed’s 25-basis-point rate cut announcement.

This comes amid an unexpected decline in private payrolls in November, as small businesses pulled back sharply. According to an ADP jobs report released last week, small businesses reported a net decrease of 120,000 employees, while mid-sized and large businesses added 90,000 employees on a net basis.

Meanwhile, U.S. equities were mixed in Thursday morning’s trade. At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was down by 0.44%, the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (QQQ) declined 1.2%, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) rose 0.83%. 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 0.21% at the time of writing.

Also See: Oracle Stock Is Tanking After Q2 Report – Analyst Points Out Timing Mismatch Between AI Buildout Expenses, Revenue Conversion

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