Rising consumer confidence, falling jobless claims, and a booming stock exchange – is a Fed rate hike likely in a few weeks? [Xinhua]
As US President Barack Obama’s days in the White House come to an end, he might take comfort in knowing that the economy has somewhat revitalized under his eight years at the helm.
On Thursday, the Labor Department released a report which showed that the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits (jobless claims) for the week ending November 12 fell by 19,000 to 235,000 – the lowest such level in 43 years.
With the number of claims coming under the 300,000 level for 89 consecutive weeks, these figures mark one of the strongest showings of the labor market in more than 80 years.
The report comes on the back of last week’s report which showed that consumer sentiment in the US had rebounded in early November, with the Thomson Reuters CSI index reporting on Friday a rise to 91.6 points from last month’s 87.2 points.
This is the highest level since mid-2016, as consumers appear to have slightly stronger confidence in the economy.
It now looks increasingly likely that the Federal Reserve will be encouraged by the latest data to raise interest rates in December.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
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