Washington - Wall Street expects government data to show the number of newly laid off workers filing for jobless benefits dipped slightly last week after three straight increases prompted concerns of a softening labor market.
New claims rose by 6,000 to 322,000 for the week ending Aug. 11. Analysts expect new claims to drop to 320,000 for the week ended Aug. 18, according to the consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR. The Labor Department data will be released Thursday at 8:30 a.m. EDT.
The prior week's gain was not unexpected but was greater than analysts had forecast and exposed possible weakness in the labor market due to sluggish economic growth and the worsening housing slump.
Businesses added 92,000 workers to payrolls in July, well below this year's average monthly gain of 136,000 and a monthly average gain of 189,000 in 2006, according to the Labor Department.
The government's four-week moving average of new jobless claims, which smooths week-to-week fluctuations, rose 4,750 last week to 312,500.
Layoffs in the financial sector were prevalent earlier this week.
JP Morgan Chase & Co. plans to cut at least 450 employees from its Cardservices operation in Tempe, Ariz., before the second quarter of 2008. The jobs will be moved to other Chase centers in Missouri, Illinois and Florida, according to the company.
SunTrust Banks said it will cut about 2,400 jobs by the end of next year, one of several initiatives designed to trim the Atlanta-based company's costs and improve shareholder value.
Countrywide Financial Corp. began laying off an undisclosed number of employees as it deals with the home loan industry's credit woes. The Wall Street Journal reported the job cuts occurred in Countrywide's Full Spectrum Lending unit.
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