
US jobless claims fall to 3-month low
Applications increased by 7,000 to 241,000 in total during the week ended July 12, the Labor Department data showed.
This came against forecasts for a rise to 233,000, as the previous week's data was revised upward by 1,000.
The four-week average, a more stable measure, declined by 6,250 to 229,500, versus last week's revised average of 235,750.
This data underscored the labor market's resilience, even as trade tensions persist and new tariffs on several imports are set to take effect on Aug. 1.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Al Arabiya
13 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
California utility creates fund for victims of january's deadly eaton fire near la
Southern California Edison announced this week that it will create a fund to compensate victims of January's devastating Eaton Fire near Los Angeles. Investigators haven't yet determined a cause for the blaze that killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 homes and other structures in Altadena. The creation of the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program seems to suggest that the utility is prepared to acknowledge what several lawsuits claim: that its equipment sparked the conflagration. 'Even though the details of how the Eaton Fire started are still being evaluated, SCE will offer an expedited process to pay and resolve claims fairly and promptly,' Pedro Pizarro, chief executive of Edison International, the utility's parent company, said in a statement Wednesday. 'This allows the community to focus more on recovery instead of lengthy, expensive litigation.' It is not clear how much money the utility will contribute to the fund. A lawsuit filed by Los Angeles County in March claims that costs and damage estimates were expected to total hundreds of millions of dollars, with assessments ongoing. SCE said the compensation program, which will go into effect this fall, would be open to those who lost homes, rental properties, or businesses. It would also cover those who suffered injuries, were harmed by smoke, or had family members who were killed. The LA Fire Justice, which advocates for wildfire victims, said in a statement that the program's creation shows that SCE is prepared to accept responsibility. But the nonprofit said a similar fund by Pacific Gas & Electric following wildfires in Northern California was slow to roll out and inefficient. 'Experience suggests that these direct payments for victims are neither quick nor easy nor equitable. PG&E offered a similar program, and wildfire victims ended up receiving inadequate compensation, and it didn't happen fast,' said Doug Boxer, an attorney for LA Fire Justice. The SCE payment plan is being created by administrators who helped form similar programs, including the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. LA County previously won more than $64 million in a settlement with Southern California Edison over the 2018 Woolsey Fire. Investigators determined SCE's equipment sparked that blaze, and the utility also paid more than $2 billion to settle related insurance claims. Utility equipment has sparked some of the deadliest and most destructive fires in state history in recent years. Investigators are also working to determine the cause of the Palisades Fire, which broke out shortly before the Eaton Fire and killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of structures in Los Angeles.

Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Trump says he wants Musk and his companies to thrive in US
President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would not destroy Elon Musk's companies by taking away federal subsidies and said he wants the billionaire tech-entrepreneur's businesses to thrive. 'Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon's companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the US Government. This is not so!' Trump said in a social media post. 'I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE.' The statement follows Musk's warning to Tesla investors on Wednesday that US government cuts in support for electric vehicle makers could lead to a 'few rough quarters' for the company. Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump win November's presidential election and led the Department of Government Efficiency's chaotic effort to slash the budget and cut the federal workforce. The Tesla CEO left the administration in late May to refocus on his tech empire. Trump and Musk fell out shortly afterward when Musk openly denounced the Republican president's tax-cut and spending bill, leading to threats by Trump to cancel billions of dollars worth of federal government contracts with Musk's companies.


Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
UnitedHealth says it is under a federal investigation and cooperating
Shares of UnitedHealth Group dove early Thursday after the health care giant said it was under a Department of Justice investigation. The company said it has started complying with both criminal and civil requests from federal investigators and it was cooperating with them. UnitedHealth has a long record of responsible conduct and effective compliance, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal said federal officials had launched a civil fraud investigation into how the company records diagnoses that lead to extra payments for its Medicare Advantage, or MA, plans. Those are privately run versions of the government's Medicare coverage program mostly for people ages 65 and over. The company's UnitedHealthcare business covers more than 8 million people as the nation's largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans. The business has been under pressure in recent quarters due to rising care use and rate cuts. UnitedHealth Group Inc. said in February that it was'nt aware of the start of any new activity as the paper reported. The company said Thursday that it reached out to the Justice Department after reviewing media reports about investigations into certain aspects of the company's participation in the Medicare program. UnitedHealth runs one of the nation's largest health insurance and pharmacy benefits management businesses. It also operates a growing Optum business that provides care and technology support. Company shares have mostly shed value since December, when UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in midtown Manhattan on his way to the company's annual investor meeting. The stock price dropped 3 percent, or 9.63, to 283 shortly before markets opened Thursday.