By Lucia Mutikani
January 8, 2025 – 8:11 AM PST
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell to an 11-month low last week, pointing to a stable labor market, though a slowdown in hiring has led some laid-off workers to experience long bouts of joblessness.
Signs of a steadily cooling labor market could allow the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates unchanged in January against the backdrop of still high inflation.
The U.S. central bank last month projected a shallower path of rate cuts this year than had been forecast in September, when it launched its policy easing cycle.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Wednesday that he expected further rate cuts, adding that the pace of the reductions “will depend on how much progress we make on…
