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U.S. jobless claims hint at further labor-market gains
The number of Americans applying to receive jobless benefits has been low for months and the improved pace of hiring in the U.S. will probably keep it that way at least until the end of the year.

Economists polled by MarketWatch expect initial jobless claims to edge up to 305,000 in the seven days ended Aug. 2 from 302,000 in the prior week. The report will be issued at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

Initial claims have ranged from 300,000 to 325,000 for most of the year and they even touched a 14-year low of 279,000 in mid-July. The low level of claims – a proxy for layoffs – has coincided with an acceleration in U.S. job creation to more than 200,000 a month.

Since the early 1970s, weekly jobless claims have only fallen below the 300,000 mark during especially fast periods of U.S. growth. What’s different now is the economy is growing at just two-thirds its normal speed and unemployment remains unusually high at this late stage of a recovery.

As long as claims stay low, however, it will be a sign that companies plan to continue to hire at a modest clip and forgo mass layoffs. Most businesses laid off so many workers during and after the Great Recession that they are now very lean. Now they are more willing to add employees as sales continue to tick higher.

Also on Thursday, the Federal Reserve will tell us how much consumers increased their use of credit in June. The Fed’s credit report comes out at 3 p.m. Eastern. http://blogs.marketwatch.com/capitolreport/2014/08/06/u-s-jobless-claims-hint-at-further-labor-market-gains/