In this morning’s data, Initial Jobless Claims were 840,000 for the week ending October 3rd, above forecasts and only a slight decrease from the previous week’s revised figures. Continuing Claims were 10,976,000 as of September 26th, lower than expected and also lower than the previous week’s revised figures. Overall, claims continue to show some difficulty in the labor market, especially when coupled with last week’s mixed jobs report. Given the continued effects of COVID-19, there are still large portions of the economy that are not yet back to normal, such as the Travel and Leisure & Hospitality industries. It may take time for the labor market to improve to levels seen before COVID-19 until people begin traveling more and creating some demand in related industries. In all, bond yields are little changed and equity futures are higher as we head into the market open.
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