June 20 - Fewer Americans enrolled for unemployment benefits for the first time last week, Labor Department data showed on Thursday, though the number of people on benefits rolls overall climbed a week earlier to the highest since January, a sign that the U.S. job market continues to cool.
The U.S. central bank has maintained its benchmark overnight interest rate in the current 5.25%-5.50% range since last July, and at their meeting last week officials revised down the number of rate cuts they anticipate delivering this year to just one quarter-point reduction from a projection of three as recently as March.
Data next week on the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, could offer more clues on the state of the labor market in June. The so-called continuing claims edged up to a seasonally adjusted 1.828 million during the week ending June 8, the highest since early January.
Data for April was revised up to show single-family starts rising to a rate of 1.036 million units instead of the previously reported 1.031 million units.