But the risks to the economy are mounting. Other data on Thursday showed corporate profits in the fourth quarter declining by the most in five years, in part because of penalties and fines imposed on several businesses. That included a $1.7 billion civil penalty against Wells Fargo for what the government said was to "settle allegations that it illegally assessed fees and interest charges on auto and car loans.
Economists attributed the low level in claims partly to seasonal adjustment factors, the model that the government uses to strip out seasonal fluctuations from the data, which they said could have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to an analysis by Goldman Sachs, leisure and hospitality and other service industries rely heavily on bank lending.
The number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, rose 4,000 to 1.689 million during the week ending March 18. These continuing claims covered the period during which the government surveyed households for the unemployment rate for March. Gross domestic product increased at a revised 2.6% annualized rate last quarter, the government said in its third estimate of fourth-quarter GDP. That was revised down from the 2.7% pace reported last month, and reflected downgrades to exports and consumer spending on services.