The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing an unexpected decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended January 13th.
The report said initial jobless claims fell to 187,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 203,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 207,000 from the 202,000 originally reported for the previous week.
With the unexpected decline, jobless claims dropped to their lowest level since hitting 182,000 in the week ended September 24, 2022.
After reporting a sharp increase in new residential construction in the U.S. in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing a notable pullback by housing starts in the month of December.
The Commerce Department said housing starts slumped by 4.3 percent to an annual rate of 1.460 million in December after spiking by 10.8 percent to a revised rate of 1,525 million in November.
Economists had expected housing starts to pull back by 8.6 percent to a rate of 1.426 million from the 1.560 million originally reported for the previous month.
Meanwhile, the report also said building permits surged by 1.9 percent to an annual rate of 1.495 million in December after tumbling by 2.1 percent to a revised rate of 1.467 million in November.
Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, were expected to jump by 1.4 percent to a rate of 1.480 million from the 1.460 million originally reported for the previous month.
A report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on Thursday showed regional manufacturing activity contracted at a slightly slower rate in the month of January.
The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current general activity rose to a negative 10.6 in January from a revised reading of negative 12.8 in December. A negative reading indicates a contraction in regional manufacturing activity.
Economists had expected the index to rise to a negative 7.0 from the negative 10.5 originally reported for the previous month.
At 11 am ET, the Energy Information Administration is due to release its report on oil inventories in the week ended January 12th.
Crude oil inventories are expected to dip by 0.3 million barrels are climbing by 1.3 million barrels in the previous week.
The Treasury Department is also scheduled to announce the details of this month’s auctions of two-year, five-year and seven-year notes at 11 am ET.
At 12:05 pm ET, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic is due to speak on the 2024 economic outlook before the Atlanta Business Chronicle 2024 Economic Outlook lunch.