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U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level in more than three years during Thanksgiving week, potentially complicating the Federal Reserves upcoming decision on interest rates. The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits for the week ending Nov. 29 fell to 191,000 from the previous weeks 218,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Thats the lowest level since September 24, 2022, when claims came in at 189,000. Analysts surveyed by the data provider FactSet had forecast initial claims of 221,000. Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, said that unemployment benefit filings are often distorted by the Thanksgiving holiday, which can cause some people who may have lost jobs to delay filing claims. Still, the low claims figure also suggests that overall layoffs remain muted, despite the high-profile announcements. Hiring is also sluggish, which makes finding a job for those out of work challenging. The labor market is kind of frozen, Bostjancic said. Companies are in wait-and-see mode. Applications for unemployment aid are viewed as a proxy for layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market. The job cuts announced recently by large companies such as UPS, General Motors, Amazon, and Verizon typically take weeks or months to fully implement and may not be reflected in Thursdays data. For now, the U.S. job market appears stuck in a low-hire, low-fire state that has kept the unemployment rate historically low. On Wednesday, private payroll data firm ADP estimated U.S. job losses of 32,000 in November. The surprisingly weak report may be discouraging for people looking for jobs, but it bolstered expectations that the Fed will cut its main interest rate next week. Its not clear how much weight this weeks layoff figures will carry with the Fed as the numbers can be volatile and prone to revisions. Complicating the Feds upcoming decision is inflation, which remains above the central banks 2% target. The Feds preferred measure of inflation will be released in a government report on Friday and will also be factored into its rate call on Wednesday. Two weeks ago, the government said that hiring picked up a bit in September, when employers added 119,000 new jobs. That mixed report, which also showed employers had shed jobs in August, was delayed due to the government shutdown. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%, its highest level in four years. Novembers comprehensive jobs data has been delayed for release until later this month, after the Feds meeting, also due to the government shutdown. The government also recently reported that retail sales slowed in September after three months of healthy increases. Consumer confidence has plunged to its second-lowest level in five years, while wholesale inflation eased a bit. The data suggests that both the economy and inflation are slowing, which has boosted financial markets expectations that the Federal Reserve will reduce its key interest rate at its meeting next week. If the Fed does reduce its benchmark rate next week, it would be the third cut of the year as it attempts to support a job market that has been slowing for months. Thursday’s report from Labor also showed that the four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week volatility, fell by 9,500 to 214,750. The total number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the previous week ending Nov. 22 dipped by 4,000 to 1.94 million, the government said. Matt Ott, AP business writer AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this report.
Category:
E-Commerce
As the rest of the world speeds ahead toward an electrified future, the U.S. is doubling down on gas-powered cars. President Trump announced a proposal this week to slash stricter fuel economy standards put in place during the Biden administration. By reversing the standards, the White House further aligns itself with the oil and gas industry, with some automakers happily going along for the ride. “We’re officially terminating Joe Biden’s ridiculously burdensome, horrible actually, CAFE standards that impose expensive restrictions,” Trump said, referencing the Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules. “And all sorts of problems all sorts of problems for automakers.” The president was joined by Ford CEO Jim Farley, Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa and a representative from General Motors for the announcement, which took place at the White House on Wednesday. Today is a victory for common sense and affordability, Farley said at the event. We believe that people should be able to make a choice, as you said, Mr. President, and we will invest more in affordable vehicles. Regulations put in place during the Biden administration would require new cars sold in the U.S. to average more than 50 miles per gallon by 2031. That rule, designed to push automakers to reorient their business around EVs, will drop to 34.5 miles per gallon under Trumps proposal. The president also reiterated his plans to end a set of EPA rules that limit tailpipe pollution, a change that the oil and gas industry pushed for. Fuel rules tend to shift between presidential administrations, with Democrats pushing for environmentally-minded standards and Republicans stripping away regulations. The White House characterized the changes, designed to slow the U.S. shift toward electric vehicles, as a cost-saving measure for consumers. The Biden standards would have compelled widespread shifts to EVs that American consumers did not ask for, accompanied by significant cost-of-living increases, the administration wrote in a fact sheet on the changes. In 2025, high car prices are one part of a puzzle for Americans trying to make ends meet. High interest rates, persistent inflation and Trumps own tariffs on imported cars and car parts have created a perfect storm of unaffordability for car buyers. The high cost of driving Cars are really expensive right now. The average price for a new vehicle inched above $50,000 for the first time in September, according to a report from Kelley Blue Book. That average rose by almost $2,000 compared to 2024. The average price of EVs, which cost more up front and save drivers cash in the long run, was $8,000 higher during the same time frame. The $20,000-vehicle is now mostly extinct, and many price-conscious buyers are sidelined or cruising in the used-vehicle market, Cox Automotive Executive Analyst Erin Keating said in the report, which also noted the impact of cost pressure from tariffs. Today’s auto market is being driven by wealthier households who have access to capital, good loan rates and are propping up the higher end of the market. While auto makers secured some relief from the presidents flurry of tariffs, car makers didnt make it through the year unscathed. In a mid-year earnings call, Ford estimated its tariff costs to total up to $2 billion for the year. The fuel economy changes are just the Trump administrations latest effort to unravel signature climate-friendly policies from the Biden years. Trumps Big Beautiful Bill, passed earlier this year, stripped away Biden era tax credits that lowered the price tag of eligible EVs by as much as $7,500. The death of those tax credits prompted a major short term boost in EV sales this summer, as buyers rushed to make their purchases in time to secure more affordable electric cars before the end of September.
Category:
E-Commerce
President Donald Trump plans to travel to Pennsylvania on Tuesday to highlight his efforts to reduce inflation even as fears mount about a worsening job market and amid signs that Americans are still feeling squeezed by high prices. A White House official said Trump would be making the trip to discuss ending the inflation crisis that he says was inherited from his predecessor, Joe Biden. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the trip has not been formally announced. It was not immediately clear where in Pennsylvania Trump would be visiting. Last month’s off-year elections showed a shift away from Republicans as public concerns about affordability persist. White House officials said afterward that Trump who has done relatively few events domestically would put a greater emphasis on talking directly to the public about his economic policies. The president has said that any affordability worries are part of a Democratic hoax and that people simply need to hear his perspective to change their minds an approach also embraced by Biden, who in early 2024 went to the Pennsylvania borough of Emmaus to take credit for economic improvements after inflation spiked in 2022. The trip hints at the dilemma faced by Trump. He wants to take credit for rewiring the U.S. economy with his large tariff hikes and extension of income tax cuts, but he also continues to blame Biden for the increase nationwide in inflation rates that occurred this year during his own presidency. Overall, inflation is tracking at 3% annually, up from 2.3% in April when Trump rolled out a sweeping set of import taxes. We fixed inflation, and we fixed almost everything, Trump said at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting. He called affordability a hoax that was started by the Democrats who caused the problem of pricing. Trump won Pennsylvania narrowly last year with 50.4%, besting Democrat Kamala Harris by roughly 120,000 votes. The win was part of a broader sweep in battleground states that helped return him to the White House after his 2020 loss. AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of voters in the 2024 election, found that 7 in 10 Pennsylvania voters were very concerned about the cost of food and groceries. Roughly half expressed the same degree of worry over health care costs and the price of gasoline. While Trump can point to a decline in gasoline prices, hes now facing inflationary pressures on utilities and a massive increase in insurance premiums for people who get their health care through the Affordable Care Act. Pennsylvanians who buy their own health insurance coverage are likely to see their costs increase on average by 21.5% because of the expiration of tax credits tied to the Affordable Care Act, the state said in October. Pennsylvania has yet to see the boom that Trump promised would instantly happen with his return to the White House. The state has largely preserved its Biden era job growth under Trump, but its unemployment rate has risen to 4% from 3.6% over the past 12 months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There has been an increase of roughly 24,000 people who say theyre unemployed. Annual inflation in the Philadelphia area is 3.3%, roughly the same as last year. The Philadelphia Federal Reserves Beige Book in November documented an economy in decline, saying that hiring has flattened, warehouse workers are getting fewer hours on the job, inflationary pressures are coming from tariffs and sales of existing homes are decreasing. Separately, the regional Fed branchs manufacturing survey last month showed that factory activity weakened. The news outlet Axios first reported Trump’s plans to travel to Pennsylvania. Josh Boak, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
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