WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits increased more than expected last week, but that did not signal a material shift in the labor market amid temporary automobile plant closures and disruptions from Hurricane Beryl. The weekly jobless claims report from the Labor Department on Thursday, however, suggested that it was getting harder for...

Signs of a cooling U.S. labor market are becoming more evident, increasingly reinforcing investor beliefs that the time has come for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. New unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, while continuing jobless claims reached their highest levels since November 2021, according to the Department of Labor’s report on Tuesday. Simultaneously reported, the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said the U.S. Federal Reserve should not cut interest rates until late 2024 and the government needs to raise taxes to slow the growing federal debt -- including on households earning less than President Joe Biden's $400,000-a-year threshold. The prescriptions came in the detailed staff report from the IMF's annual Article...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, but there has been no material shift in the labor market and the data is typically noisy in July because of summer breaks and temporary factory closures. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 243,000 for...