U.S. jobless claims drop

<font size=5>New claims drop for third consecutive week</font>

August 2, 2001: 8:50 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Lines at the unemployment office grew shorter for the third week in a row last week, the government said Thursday, hinting at a slight pickup in the U.S. job market a day ahead of the monthly employment report.

<font color="#FF0000">New claims for state unemployment benefits fell to 346,000 last week from a revised 369,000 the prior week, the Labor Department reported. Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast new claims of 390,000</font>.

New claims had fallen below 400,000 for the first time in more than a month the week before.

The four-week moving average of new claims, considered a better gauge of jobless trends, fell to 395,250 from the previous period's revised 409,750. Economists watch the four-week moving average more closely since it smoothes fluctuations in the weekly data.

<font color="#FF0000">Continued claims</font> -- those by workers who already have claimed at least a week of benefits - fell to 3.0 million in the week ended July 21, the latest available, from a revised 3.1 million the prior week.

<font color="#FF0000">The report on weekly jobless claims comes a day before the Labor Department reports on July unemployment - the government's first look at the economy's performance last month</font>.

Morgen wird's also spannend.

Quelle: http://www.cnnfn.com[/b]
http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2001/08/02/economy/jobless/

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