US Weekly Jobless Claims at Seven-Month Low; Home Resales Rebound in October

• The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell to a seven-month low last week, suggesting that job growth likely rebounded in November after abruptly slowing last month amid hurricanes and strikes.
• It is, however, taking longer for laid-off workers to find new jobs, posing an upside risk to the unemployment rate. The report from the Labor Department on Thursday also showed unemployment rolls¹ swelling to levels last seen in late 2021.
• Labour market slack keeps the door open to a third interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve next month, despite a recent lack of progress in lowering inflation to its 2% target.
• "There is little evidence of large layoffs taking place," said Gisela Hoxha, an economist at Citigroup. "However, in a low hiring environment, those individuals that are laid off are finding it harder to get a new job and are remaining on unemployment benefits for longer, which implies an upside risk to the unemployment rate.

_________________________________

¹Unemployment rolls refer to the number of people who are receiving unemployment benefits:

(Source: Reuters)