Weekly jobless claims drop to 189K, well below the 197K forecast
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on November 5, 2026.
Firings stay rare at 189K new claims, but continuing claims climbing to 1.718 million says the laid-off are stuck looking, which complicates the case for a December cut.
US JOBLESS CLAIMS -6K TO 189K IN OCT-31 WK; SURVEY 197K US OCT-24 WEEK CONTINUING CLAIMS +23K TO 1,718,000 US OCT-24 WEEK JOBLESS CLAIMS REVISED TO 195K
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Initial claims for the week ending October 31 fell to 189K, missing expectations of 197K and leaving the labor market tighter than forecasters assumed.
Continuing claims for the October 24 week rose to 1,718,000, a sign that workers who do lose their jobs are taking longer to find new ones even as the pace of layoffs stays historically low.
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That tension complicates the Federal Reserve's December calculus: very low initial claims argue against urgency on rate cuts, while climbing continuing claims hint at softening beneath the surface. Investors get a signal pointing both ways at once.