Initial jobless claims reflect weekly firings and typically wane before job growth accelerates.
Payrolls rose by 195,000 workers for a second month in June, indicating the U.S. is poised for faster growth as it shakes off the impact of tax increases and budget cuts. The jobless rate stayed at 7.6 percent, close to a four-year low.
Some companies are paring headcount. Sprint Nextel Corp., the third-largest wireless carrier, said this week in a filing that it will exit some leases related to Clearwire Corp.’s commercial offices, cell towers and retail stores, and reduce employee headcount in connection with the merger. Clearwire shareholders on July 8 voted in favor of Sprint’s bid for full control of the wireless Internet operator.
Fed’s Bernanke
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last month that the central bank may start reducing the pace of bond buying this year and end the purchases around the middle of next year if the economy finally achieves the sustainable growth the Fed has sought since the recession ended in 2009.
Many Fed officials want to see more signs employment is picking up before they’ll begin scaling back $85 billion in monthly bond purchases, according to minutes of policy makers’ June meeting released yesterday.
Policy makers also project inflation will remain at or below their goal. Today’s Labor Department figures on import prices showed scant signs of cost pressures.
The import price index fell 0.2 percent in June after a 0.7 percent decrease. The median forecast of 44 economists in a Bloomberg survey called for no change. Prices rose 0.2 percent over the past 12 months after slumping 1.9 percent.
Minus Fuel
Excluding fuel, import costs fell 0.3 percent last month, and were down 1 percent from June 2012. Prices of imported auto dropped 0.3 percent from a month earlier, natural gas and food each fell 1.2 percent, and industrial supplies decreased 0.3 percent.