New claims for unemployment benefits jumped unexpectedly in the U.S. last week, mostly because state agencies processed a backlog of claims caused by snowstorms the previous week.
The severe weather also increased temporary layoffs in the weather-sensitive construction and transportation industries.
Still, the increase in claims underscored concerns that layoffs are no longer slowing as fast as they were in the second half of last year.
“The fact that these snowstorms — as bad as they were — could have such an impact is more testimony to the fragility of the recovery,” Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, wrote in a note to clients. “The recovery is still on thin ice and lost momentum in the first quarter.”
The jobless claims report, along with economic anxiety in Europe, contributed to unease on Wall Street. In midmorning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell about 150 points, or about 1.5 percent. Broader stock averages also dropped.
A separate report Thursday on orders for big-ticket manufactured goods was mixed. The Commerce Department said durable goods orders shot up in January by 3 percent, the most in six months.
But that gain resulted from a surge in orders for aircraft. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders fell by 0.6 percent, a weaker showing than economists had expected.
In its report on jobless claims, the Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment insurance rose by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 496,000. Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a drop to 455,000. (AP)
