WASHINGTON — The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits tumbled last week to the lowest level in nearly seven years, strengthening views of faster job growth.þþThe report on jobless claims on Thursday was the latest sign of economic momentum after an unusually cold winter slowed activity.þþ“The return of warmer temperatures has brought with it better data,” said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. “There are a number of signs that progress in the jobs market could be accelerating, a positive sign for the broad economy as well.”þþInitial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 32,000 to a seasonally adjusted 300,000 for last week, the Labor Department said. That was the lowest level since May 2007, before the 2007-9 recession.þþThe report joined other indicators, including automobile sales and employment data, in suggesting that the economy ended the first quarter on surer footing, positioning it for faster growth in the second quarter.þþFirst-quarter economic growth is expected to have slowed sharply from the fourth quarter’s annual 2.6 percent pace, largely because of the harsh weather and businesses placing fewer orders with manufacturers while working off huge stockpiles accumulated in the second half of 2013.þþ“The rate of involuntary job losses slowed in early April, which suggests we could have a further pickup in job growth in April,” said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics. “We think that the unemployment rate could fall faster than the Federal Reserve expects over the next year.”þþJob growth averaged 195,000 a month in February and March, with the unemployment rate holding at 6.7 percent, nearly a five-year low, in that period.þþStill, the recent job market upturn is unlikely to cause the Federal Reserve to rush to start raising interest rates when it winds down its monthly bond-buying program this year.þþThe Fed slashed overnight interest rates to a record low of zero to 0.25 percent in December 2008 and pledged to keep them low while nursing the economy back to health.þþMinutes of its March 18-19 policy meeting, published on Wednesday, suggested that officials were not eager to start tightening monetary policy.þþA second report on Thursday from the Labor Department showed that import prices increased 0.6 percent last month after rising 0.9 percent in February.þþThe increase exceeded economists’ expectations for a 0.2 percent gain and was driven by food prices, which recorded their largest advance in three years. Otherwise, there was little sign of a broader pickup in imported inflation.þþ“The U.S. can’t import any inflation,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. “If this is on the Fed’s inflation dashboard, there are no inflationary pressures to speak of coming in from overseas.”þþLast month, imported food prices jumped 3.7 percent, the biggest increase since March 2011, after falling 0.7 percent in February. Prices for imported fuel rose 1.2 percent last month, slowing from a 5.3 percent surge in February.þþWithout food and fuel, import prices rose 0.2 percent after slipping 0.1 percent in February.
Source: NY Times
