"The number of initial jobless claims in the United States fell last week, signaling signs of stabilization in the employment market."

In the week ending February 7, the initial jobless claims in the United States were 227,000, slightly higher than the expected 222,000, and the revised previous value was 232,000 from 231,000. The continued jobless claims in the United States for the week ending January 31 were 1.862 million, slightly higher than the expected 1.85 million, and the revised previous value was 1.841 million from 1.844 million. Weekly jobless claims numbers often fluctuate around holidays and inclement weather as people may temporarily be unable to work. The lower number of claims indicates that after the winter storm that swept across the country last week, businesses and schools have more or less returned to normal operations. Following a significant increase in jobless claims in the previous period due to severe winter weather conditions, jobless claims in the US decreased slightly last week. The four-week average of initial jobless claims in the United States for the week ending February 7 was 219,500, and the revised previous value was 212,250 from 212,500. Data released on Thursday also indicates that, despite announcements of job cuts by large companies like Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) and FedEx Corporation (FDX.US), the number of layoffs has not significantly increased in recent times. The lower jobless claims numbers and other data suggest that these layoff plans have not yet translated into a large-scale layoff. There are other signs indicating that after a difficult year in the job market, employment is starting to stabilize. The latest government report on employment shows that the nonfarm payrolls in the US increased by the highest rate in over a year in January, and the unemployment rate has also decreased. The seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment in January in the US increased by 130,000, the largest since April 2025, exceeding the expected 70,000 and revised previous value of 48,000 from 50,000. The nonfarm payroll numbers for November was revised from 56,000 to 41,000, and for December from 50,000 to 48,000. After the revisions, the total nonfarm payroll for November and December was lower by 17,000 than previously reported. The US Treasury bond yields dropped slightly after the initial claims data was released; the 10-year US Treasury bond yield decreased by 2.1 basis points to 4.162%.