Investing.com - The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment claims edged up slightly last week, snapping a three-week streak of declines, as possible distortions from recent devastating hurricanes waned.
Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the US South, along with a now-ended strike at aerospace giant Boeing (NYSE:BA), helped keep applications elevated in the middle of October.
Initial jobless claims climbed to 221,000 in the week ended on Nov. 2, rising from an upwardly-revised 218,000 in the prior week, according to Labor Department data. The earlier return had seen the figure at 216,000, its lowest mark since May.
Economists had predicted a reading of 223,000. The four-week average of jobless claims, which aim to account for variances in the weekly figures, dipped to 227,250, down from 237,000.
The Federal Reserve will likely be keeping an eye on the state of the labor market as policymakers close out a two-day meeting with a major interest rate decision on Thursday. In September, the Fed slashed rates by an outsized 50 basis points, citing a need to bolster the labor market during a time of fading inflationary pressures.
Markets are broadly pricing in a further quarter-point borrowing cost reduction this month in the key fed funds rate, which currently stands at a range of 4.75% to 5%.
Futures contracts tied to the Fed's policy rate are also factoring in an additional drawdown in December, although these wagers were somewhat dented following Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election.
In the wake of the ballot, traders are now betting the Fed will roll out only two more cuts next year, bringing rates down to a band of 3.75% to 4%. In such an event, it would be the end of the Fed's long-anticipated rate-cutting cycle roughly more than a year earlier than initially anticipated and a percentage point higher than the projections of many policymakers.