The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first time-claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged lower in the week ended May 16th.
The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 209,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 212,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 213,000 from the 211,000 originally reported for the previous week.
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May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.