U.S. jobless claims at two-month low

Applications for unemployment benefits in the US fell to the lowest level in two months last week, indicating that the demand for workers is resilient during the slowdown in employment growth.

Initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 228,000 in the week ended July 15, according to data released by the Labor Ministry on Thursday. In Bloomberg’s survey of economists, the median estimate was 240 thousand.

On the other hand, the ongoing applications, including those who have received unemployment benefits for more than a week, rose to 1.75 million in the week until July 8.