Price Increases Show U.S. Picking Up as Firings Drop: Economy
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The cost of living rose in April and fewer Americans filed claims for jobless benefits last week, showing the world’s largest economy is making progress toward the Federal Reserve’s unemployment and inflation goals.
The consumer-price index increased 0.3 percent last month, the biggest gain since June, Labor Department data showed today in Washington. The number of applications for unemployment insurance payments dropped by 24,000 to 297,000 in the week ended May 10, less than any economist projected in a Bloomberg survey and the least since May 2007, according to other figures.