Following the good news that food stamp usage is finally falling, here is another sign that the U.S. economy is finally healing. Bloomberg reports that jobless claims decreased by 14,000 to 289,000 in the week that ended Aug. 2 from 303,000 in the prior period, according to a Labor Department report.
Bloomberg's survey of economists had estimated a rise in jobless claims, perhaps influenced by last month's news that Microsoft would be making 18,000 layoffs, the largest number of job firings in its history.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
4 ways to cover unexpected home repairsThe Explainer Home is where the heart is — but it might cost you
-
Why is Trump attacking Intel's CEO?Today's Big Question Concerns about Lip-Bu Tan's Chinese connections
-
One great cookbook: 'Salt to Taste'The Week Recommends Your roadmap to satisfying Italian home cooking
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
