Economics
U.S. Economy: Jobless Claims, Home Starts Signal Strength
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Claims for unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level in seven months and housing starts exceeded forecasts, signaling improvement in the weakest areas of the U.S. economy.
Applications for jobless benefits decreased 5,000 in the week ended Nov. 12 to 388,000, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Starts decreased 0.3 percent to a 628,000 annual rate in October, according to the Commerce Department. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a drop to 610,000. Building permits, a proxy for future construction, jumped 10.9 percent.