Market Up as Unemployment Claims Down

The unemployment claims for last week released today, showing that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits is down, and the numbers are helping the stock market.

The number of claims for last week was 218,000, which is down from the expected 225,000 that many economists said we would see in the report when polled by Reuters. That is great news for the US economy and for the stock market.

The report shows that claims are down by 4,000 compared to last week and have dropped considerably since the 11-month high of 250,000 that were filed in July of this year. The US economy is slowly getting back on track following years of pandemic and lockdowns and the fallout that those circumstances created.

The US Stock Market at a Glance

For Thursday, the US stock indices are up, with the Dow Jones climbing 188 points or 0.45%. The Nasdaq Composite also improved and is up by 0.96% today. Rounding out the top three is the S&P 500, which is up by 0.55%.

The market had slipped right before closing on Wednesday, but the pullback was not significant. Today, the markets are all up after the recent unemployment claims report was better than expected.

September has been an unusually strong month for the stock market, especially in the last half thanks to the drastic interest rate cuts issued by the US central bank. We have seen record highs across the stock market and particularly strong earnings reports from tech companies and a number of retailers.

Earnings reports from big box retailer Costco (COST) and business technologies company Accenture (ACN) are both expected later today. We could see some movement from the Meta Platforms (META) stock since CEO Mark Zuckerburg just announced new VR headsets and smart glasses for the company.

Expect the positive unemployment report to keep the market looking good as the trading week comes to a close.