U.S. stocks edged lower on Thursday on worries about the raging conflict in Ukraine and the outlook for U.S. interest rate hikes, putting the main indexes on course for their worst quarter since the pandemic crash in 2020.
er of unemployed people per job opening hovered at record-low levels in February, a new sign of the difficulty employers face in hiring and retaining workers.
The number of Americans who filed new unemployment claims increased to 207,000 in the week ending Jan. 1 as workers seek more attractive positions with better pay and Omicron coronavirus variant cases surge.
Another 205,000 American workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, matching the prior week’s jobless claims number and roughly in line with pre-pandemic levels, suggesting that the recent rise in COVID-19 infections was not driving a fresh wave of layoffs.
Inflation numbers due to be released later Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) are expected to show consumer prices rising at their fastest pace since 1982, with investors bracing for what could be a market-moving data drop.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits moved up last week to 332,000 from a pandemic low, a sign that worsening COVID-19 infections may have slightly increased layoffs.
