Jobless claims fall

New jobless claims fell to the lowest level in four weeks, according to the Labor Department. Despite economists in a Dow Jones poll expecting the number to rise to 828,000, the number of new applications dropped 19,000 to 787,000 for the week ending Dec. 26.

How does this compare to earlier in the year? Before lockdowns spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, jobless claims were about 225,000 per week. In March, as the lockdowns took effect, the number jumped briefly to 6.9 million. Overall, the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits fell by 103,000 to 5.2 million for the week ending Dec. 19, the latest numbers available for that measurement.

Dig deeper: Listen to a discussion of other recent economic news in the Monday Moneybeat from The World and Everything In It.