Jobless Claims Fall, Wholesale Sales Outpace Inventory Growth

U.S. unemployment benefit applications edged lower last week, signaling continued labor-market stability, while a separate report showed wholesale sales growing faster than inventories in August.

Initial jobless claims fell by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 197,000 for the week ended Oct. 3, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists expected 200,000 filings. The previous week’s figure was revised to 199,000 from 197,000.

The four-week moving average declined by 2,500 to 198,000 from a revised 200,500. The low level of initial claims suggests layoffs remain limited, even as the broader employment outlook depends on hiring and workers’ ability to find new jobs.

Continuing claims, representing people receiving benefits after an initial filing, increased to 1.716 million for the week ended Sept. 26 from a revised 1.699 million. That exceeded the 1.710 million forecast. The insured unemployment rate held at 1.1%. On an unadjusted basis, initial claims increased by 11,994 to 170,333. Seasonal factors had anticipated a larger increase of 13,725.

Separately, wholesale inventories rose 0.5% in August to $964.2 billion, below the preliminary estimate of 0.7% growth. July’s increase was revised to 1.4%, with inventories reaching $959.8 billion.

Inventories were 6.4% above their revised year-earlier level. Merchant wholesalers’ sales increased 1.8% to $817.5 billion and were 15.6% higher than a year earlier. The inventory-to-sales ratio stood at 1.18, compared with 1.28 a year earlier.