Initial claims for unemployment in regular state programs rose on an adjusted basis by 137,000 to 853,000 in the week ended December 5, the Labor Department reported today, Thursday, December 10. The unadjusted total rose by 229,000.
Another 428,000 workers applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a temporary federal program for self-employed, gig and other workers typically unable to collect state assistance. The program is set to expire at the end of 2020.
Continuing claims for unemployment rose by 230,000 to 5.76 million in the week ended November 28. It was the first increase in continuing claims since August.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg were looking for 725,000 new claims and a total of 5.21 million continuing claims.
At the close today, December 10, the Standard & Poor’s 500 was down 0.13% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 0.23%. The NASDAQ Composite gained 0.54%, outperforming the NASDAQ 100’s gain of 0.30%. The small cap Russell 2000 gained 1.08%. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) picks up 1.29% on the day.Â
