Jobless claims rise a bit, but labor market is firm

WASHINGTON -- The number of people signing up for jobless benefits rose last week, although the latest figures suggest employment conditions around the country remain good.

The Labor Department said Thursday that new applications for unemployment insurance rose a seasonally adjusted 4,000 to 307,000 the week ended July 28. That was better than economists expected; they were forecasting claims to rise to 310,000.

New claims also were lower than a year ago, when they stood at 315,000.

In another report, U.S. factories saw demand for their products improve in June — but not as much as some hoped. The Commerce Department said new orders rose 0.6%, compared with a 0.5% drop in May. Economists, however, were calling for a 1% gain.

Still, the overall gain registered in June did mark the best showing since March.

Demand for "durable" goods, including machinery, airplanes, turbines, generators and electrical equipment rose 1.3% in June. Orders for durable goods dropped 2.4% in May.

Demand for "non-durable" goods, including clothing and meat, poultry and seafood products, meanwhile, edged down 0.1% in June. That compared with a 1.5% increase in the previous month.

June non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, viewed as a good proxy for business spending, were unchanged, which was better than a 0.7% decline seen in an estimate by the government last week.

"The best thing about the report is that the core reading, non-defense capital orders, was revised higher. This suggests a slightly upward revision, about a tenth of percentage point to second-quarter GDP," said Michelle Meyer, an economist with Lehman Bros. in New York.

Transportation equipment orders, a volatile category whose monthly performance is heavily influenced by aircraft orders, increased 7.1% in June.

Excluding transportation, factory orders declined 0.5%. This was the first outright fall since January. June's performance was hurt by a 3.6% drop in computers and electronic products and a 6.1% fall in primary metals.