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Labor market ebbs
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December 31, 1997: 10:00 a.m. ET
First-time claims for unemployment benefits rose 13,000 last week
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The American labor market weakened last week, the U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday, but not as much as Wall Street economists had predicted.
The number of first-time applicants for unemployment benefits rose 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 318,000 for the week ended Dec. 27 from a revised 305,000 for the week before.
While the increase was high, it did not exceed the figure of 320,000 predicted by economists.
The U.S. bond market opened higher on the news, with the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rising 6/32, pushing the yield down to 5.95 percent.
Wall Street and the Federal Reserve watch the weekly jobless claim figures to discern the strength of the job market. If less people file for unemployment claims, that means more are working, increasing the buying power of consumers and possibly raising inflation fears.
Wednesday's figures may calm some of those fears, but the picture over the last month still shows a strong labor situation.
The four-week moving average, which takes a look at labor pressures during the last month, continued to fall. It stood at 314,250, down from 315,250 in the previous measurement.
The number of people seeking to continue their unemployment benefits rose to 2.24 million for the week ended Dec. 20, up from a revised 2.22 million the week before.
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U.S. Labor Department
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