US Labor Market Remains Stable; Weather, Strike Distortions Loom

MACROECONOMICS - WASHINGTON. The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose marginally last week, but the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Helene in the U.S. Southeast and strikes at Boeing and ports could distort the labor market in the near-term.

The report from the Labor Department on Thursday showed the labor market gliding at the end of the third quarter, a state of affairs that could allow the Federal Reserve to be in no rush to deliver large interest rate cuts.