Claims continue setting records

WASHINGTON (AP) — New jobless claims fell more than expected last week, but continuing claims set a new record for the eighth straight week, and few economists expect the labor market to improve anytime soon.

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial requests for unemployment insurance dropped to a seasonally adjusted 646,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 658,000. That was better than analysts’ expectations.

But continuing claims jumped 185,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.47 million, another record-high and more than the roughly 5.33 million that economists expected.

Other economic news was slightly more upbeat. A private sector group’s index of leading economic indicators dropped less than expected in February, although growth is not expected before next year. On the housing front, rates on 30-year mortgages dipped below 5 percent, and may fall further after the Federal Reserve launched a new effort to prop up that flailing market.

But on Wall Street, where the market has advanced six of the past seven sessions, stocks fell Thursday as investors scrutinized the latest Fed actions. The Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 86 points to close at 7,400.80, and broader indicators also dropped.

The four-week average of jobless claims rose to 654,750, the highest since October 1982, when the economy was emerging from a steep recession, though the labor force has grown by about half since then.

Economists said the signs of life that have cropped up in other areas of the economy in the past week, such as upticks in retail sales and housing starts, aren’t yet apparent in the labor market.

“There is no sign of even a temporary easing in the downward pressure on employment,” Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a client note.

Initial claims have topped 600,000 for seven straight weeks, a level that many economists say is consistent with another huge drop in net payrolls when the Labor Department issues its monthly employment report next month.