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The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, suggesting the labor market continued to chug along and that the abrupt slowdown in job growth in October was an aberration. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 217,000 for the week ended Nov. 9, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims surged in early October amid distortions from Hurricanes Helene and Milton as a well as a strike by factory workers at Boeing, but layoffs have remained historically low, which is underpinning the economy.

(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler said policymakers must keep their focus on both the central bank’s inflation and employment goals, pointing to a cooling labor market and slower progress toward the Fed’s 2% inflation target. Most Read from BloombergUnder Trump, Prepare for New US Transportation PrioritiesZimbabwe City of 700,000 at Risk of Running Dry by Year-EndSaudi Neom Gets $3 Billion Loan Guarantee From Italy Export Credit Agency SaceThe Urban-Rural Divide Over Highway

(Bloomberg) -- JD.com Inc.’s quarterly revenue rose 5.1%, a moderate expansion that suggests Chinese consumers are only cautiously spending again as Beijing tries to revitalize the economy.Most Read from BloombergUnder Trump, Prepare for New US Transportation PrioritiesZimbabwe City of 700,000 at Risk of Running Dry by Year-EndSaudi Neom Gets $3 Billion Loan Guarantee From Italy Export Credit Agency SaceThe Urban-Rural Divide Over Highway Expansion and EmissionsNYC Congestion Pricing Plan With $

Shayne Coplan makes light of the Kafkaesque early morning search and seizure after the 26-year-old's mobile is confiscated: “New phone, who dis?”

(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin spiked above $93,000 for a short period as expectations of further interest-rate reductions by the Federal Reserve added to the impetus from President-elect Donald Trump’s pro-crypto stance.Most Read from BloombergUnder Trump, Prepare for New US Transportation PrioritiesZimbabwe City of 700,000 at Risk of Running Dry by Year-EndSaudi Neom Gets $3 Billion Loan Guarantee From Italy Export Credit Agency SaceThe Urban-Rural Divide Over Highway Expansion and EmissionsNYC Conges

A Federal Reserve official gave a lengthy defense of the central bank's political independence Thursday, just days after former President Donald Trump, an outspoken Fed critic, won re-election. “It has been widely recognized — and is a finding of economic research — that central bank independence is fundamental to achieving good policy and good economic outcomes,” Adriana Kugler, one of the seven members of the Fed's governing board, said in prepared remarks for an economic conference in Montevideo, Uruguay. Kugler added that the research in particular finds that greater independence for central banks in advanced economies is related to lower inflation.

The dollar is forging ahead again, heading for its biggest week-on-week gain since September last year, up 2.37% since last Thursday, while Wall Street looks set to open modestly higher thanks to what for now looks like win-win inflation numbers. Wednesday's data showed consumer price pressures remain stubbornly above the Federal Reserve's target rate of 2%. At the same time, the dollar has surged to a one-year high against a basket of currencies on the 'best-of-both worlds' premise that U.S. growth will benefit from a looser fiscal regime, even as inflation rises.