(Bloomberg) — Applications for U.S. state unemployment insurance fell last week to a fresh pandemic low, indicating that dismissals are easing as business conditions improve and firms look to increase headcounts.
Initial claims in regular state programs decreased by 26,000 to 360,000 in the week ended July 10, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 350,000 initial applications.
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said the central bank has met its goal of achieving “substantial further progress” on both inflation and employment, urging policy makers to move forward in reducing stimulus.
On the other hand, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said it was still too soon to scale back the central bank’s aggressive support for the U.S. economy, while acknowledging that inflation has risen faster than expected.
Let’s hope Bullard convinces Powell to begin tapering, given the surge in inflation and today’s import and export price figures.
Today’s capacity utilization numbers rose, but show a disturbing trend that The Fed can’t fix. Capacity utilization is lower (75.38%) than the near 85% back in the 1990s. Capacity utilization has fallen with labor force participation and M2 Money Velocity in a general downward trend since the 1990s.
And in the world of commodities, only gold, silver and iron (Fool’s Gold?) are up today. Everything else is down.
