Initial Jobless Claims Unchanged

Initial jobless claims were little changed at 374,000 in the week ending Aug. 25, matching the prior week’s revised figure, the Labor Department said Thursday. 

Economists had called for a drop to 370,000, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less-volatile measure climbed to a six week high of 370,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 368,750.

Continuing jobless claims for the previous week ended Aug.18 declined by 5,000, to 3.32 million.

The Labor Department revised last week’s figure from an initially reported 372,000.

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Forecasts for commercial vehicles basically unchanged: ACT report

COLUMBUS, Ind. -- ACT Research is maintaining its mildly pessimistic outlook for the US economy, according to the October issue of the ACT North American Commercial Vehicle Outlook.

"Recently released US economic data have had a better tone as evidenced by firmer October labour market data, a positive and rising third quarter real GDP, and a rising US stock market," said Sam Kahan, ACT's chief economist. "These improved figures have reinforced our contention that the onset of a US recession is not imminent."

With economic activity in line with expectation, forecasts for both medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles remained basically unchanged for 2011 and 2012, ACT says.

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