Jobless claims holding steady By Rex Nutting
Claims for state unemployment benefits were nearly unchanged in the latest week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Weekly first-time claims for benefits fell 12,000 to 371,000 from a revised 383,000 while the more informative four-week average rose by 2,500 to 379,000. Meanwhile, continuing claims rose 11,000 to 3.465 million with the four-week average of continuing claims also climbed by about 10,000 to 3.442 million. Initial claims, one gauge of labor market slack, have been basically unchanged for the past seven weeks. Small changes in the data have no significance. Initial claims peaked at 535,000 in the week of Sept. 29.
Feb. CPI up 0.2%, core CPI up 0.3% by Rex Nutting
Consumer prices continued their modest upward climb in February, rising a tame 0.2 percent, the Labor Department said Thursday. Prices are up 1.1 percent in the past year. Energy prices fell 0.8 percent in February reversing the 0.9 percent rise in January. Energy prices have fallen nearly 16 percent in the past year. The core rate of inflation - which strips out food and energy prices - rose 0.3 percent behind a 3.8 percent jump in tobacco prices. Excluding tobacco, the core rate rose 0.2 percent. Shelter costs, which have accounted for all inflation in the past year, rose 0.5 percent. Medical costs rose 0.3 percent. Apparel prices, which have been falling, rose 0.5 percent.
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