US weekly jobless claims reverse prior surge, but labor market softening

 

 The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, reversing the prior week's jump, but the labor market has softened as both the demand for and supply of workers have diminished.

Though the report from the Labor Department on Thursday showed fewer people collected unemployment checks in the last week of August, that was likely because many had exhausted their eligibility, which is limited to six months in most states.

The hiring side of the labor market has almost stalled, even as layoffs remain relatively low. Demand for workers has slowed, with economists blaming uncertainty stemming from tariffs on imports. At the same time, an immigration crackdown has reduced labor supply, creating what Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday described as a "curious balance."

Nonetheless, economists welcomed the decline in applications as a sign of the economy's resilience.

"The blast of claims last week was just a blip, and the steady trend in claims continues at a rate that is way too low to signal a recession," said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. "It also undermines calls for more and bigger rate cuts, both at the Fed and in the markets."

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 33,000 to a seasonally adjusted 231,000 for the week ended September 13. Claims in the prior week had jumped to 264,000, a level last seen in October 2021.

That increase in applications was concentrated in Texas, with the state's Workforce Commission later saying it had, since the September 1 Labor Day holiday, "observed an uptick in identity fraud claim attempts aimed at exploiting the unemployment insurance system."

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 240,000 claims for the latest week. Unadjusted claims dropped 10,384 to 194,478 last week, with sharp decreases in Texas, Connecticut, and Michigan. These more than offset notable increases in New York, South Carolin, and Massachusetts.

A line chart titled "US unemployment claims" that tracks the metric over a recent period.

FED CUTS INTEREST RATES

The U.S. central bank on Wednesday cut its benchmark overnight interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to the 4.00%-4.25% range and projected a steady pace of reductions for the rest of 2025 to help the labor market. The Fed paused its policy easing cycle in January because of uncertainty over the inflationary impact of President Donald Trump's import tariffs.

"Typically, when we say things are in balance, that sounds good," Powell said in a press conference after the end of the Fed's two-day policy meeting on Wednesday. "But in this case, the balance is because both supply and demand have come down quite sharply. We now see the unemployment rate edging up."

The dollar gained versus a basket of currencies on Thursday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note edged up.

The claims data covered the period during which the government surveyed business establishments for the nonfarm payrolls component of September's employment report. Claims fell slightly between the August and the September survey weeks.

Payrolls increased by only 22,000 jobs in August, with employment gains averaging 29,000 positions per month over the last three months. The unemployment rate is near a four-year high of 4.3%. The U.S. government said last week that payrolls could have been overstated by 911,000 jobs in the 12 months through March.

The stall-speed pace of hiring means long bouts of unemployment for those who lose their jobs. The number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 7,000 to a still-high 1.920 million during the week ending September 6, the claims report showed. The reason for the drop may be that many people have exhausted their eligibility, which is limited to 26 weeks in most states.

The average duration of joblessness jumped to 24.5 weeks in August, the longest since April 2022, from 24.1 weeks in July.

The Platinum Card is getting shinier and pricier.

American Express’ latest update to its high-end Platinum Card, unveiled Thursday, comes with a lot more perks, including a $400 credit for dining out, and a lofty annual fee of $895.

The Platinum Card refresh is just the latest from the major credit card issuers, and the higher fees may put pressure on some cardholders to choose between the Platinum Card and another high-fee card like Chase’s Sapphire Reserve Card. Or pay close to $2,000 in annual fees for the privilege of carrying two or more of these premium cards.

As part of the revamp, the Platinum Card customers will get a $600 annual hotel credit — up from $300 — to use with AmEx’s travel portal; a new $400 credit for using AmEx’s restaurant reservation platform Resy; $300 to use at athletic apparel chain Lululemon; and an increased “digital entertainment credit” of $300 that AmEx cardmembers can put toward several streaming services or news outlets.

All the new perks are available for AmEx customers to start using immediately. In all, AmEx says the value of the perks on the new Platinum Card totals roughly $3,500. These perks are enough to justify the $200 increase in the annual fee, said Howard Grosfield, group president of U.S. Consumer Services at AmEx. The annual fee on the Platinum Card was $550 just five years ago.

“What we are trying to do is two things: We want to make sure we are delivering $3,500 in benefits that are far, far in excess of the $895 fee and make it easy to find multiple ways for card members to find benefits that exceed that fee,” Grosfield said in an interview.

None of the Platinum Card’s previous perks, such as a $200 airline fee credit or the credit to shop at Saks Fifth Avenue, are going away, the company said.

People who watch the credit card rewards space closely felt the upgrades were worth it.

“If nothing else, going to lounges and using the $600 hotel credit will essentially justify the cost each year, and the other items are a bonus,” said Ryan Smith, news managing editor of UpgradedPoints. Smith was briefed on the changes to AmEx’s card before the launch.

Also, as part of a refresh, AmEx is issuing the stainless steel card with a high-gloss, mirrored finish, a version that may end up pulling double duty as a portable mirror.

Once a niche product whose goal was to “sell snobbery” to the high-flying business executive of the 1980s, as one magazine wrote 40 years ago, the Platinum Card is now one of American Express’ most popular products, as millions of Americans have been willing to pay handsomely to play in the game of chasing airline and hotel status and perks. It is estimated that 70% to 80% of all credit cards are now tied to loyalty programs like hotel, airline, or credit card points, according to industry research and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Those programs used to be a rarity a few decades ago.

American Express pretty much had the premium credit card customer to itself for decades. But the Platinum Card now faces an increasingly competitive market, where the major card companies each have their own high-fee, high-rewards credit card products with similar perks.

JPMorgan Chase updated its Chase Sapphire Reserve Card in June, with its own $300 dining credit as well as a new $300 credit to use toward concert and event tickets through StubHub, among other perks. Citigroup released the Strata Elite Card in August. Capital One has a high-end card known as Venture X, and fintech company Bilt, the company that cultivated a brand by letting renters pay their rent via credit card, is expected to have a high-end card next year.

When Chase increased the rewards on its Sapphire Reserve Card in June, American Express tried to one-up its rival with a press release letting people know that upgrades to the Platinum Card were coming. The company has been teasing its Platinum Card changes on social media for several weeks.

Not to be outdone by AmEx, Chase said Wednesday it was tweaking some of the rewards on Sapphire Reserve to make them more flexible for its customers, 24 hours before AmEx’s announcement.

AmEx continues to lean heavily on what’s been joked about in the industry as the “coupon book,” where customers are given major discounts for select merchants and partners, while Chase has leaned heavily on giving people bonus points for certain spending. But as part of their broad marketing campaign for the updated card, AmEx leaned heavily on its reach and the usability of the benefits. For example, AmEx executives pointed out that its $400 credit on Resy is good at 10,000 restaurants, while Chase’s own dining credit is good at only “hundreds” of restaurants. AmEx also has a large airport lounge network, either through its own Centurion lounges or its partnership with Delta Air Lines.

“We’ve been at this premium game for a long time. I think our cardmembers see the Platinum Card as in a league of its own,” Grosfield said.

$5 billion just flipped Silicon Valley's power structure.


Nvidia's investment in Intel signals more than financial support—
It formalizes who actually runs the chip industry now.

The specifics matter:

↳ Intel stock surged 33% on partnership news
↳ Joint development of x86 processors with NVLink integration
↳ Custom chips for Nvidia's AI infrastructure

But here's the strategic tell:

Nvidia avoided committing to Intel's foundry services.
They'll design together.
Build together? That's still optional.

This puts Intel in an unusual position—
needing validation from a company it once dismissed
as a niche graphics specialist.

The ripple effects are immediate:

→ AMD faces pressure in both data centers and gaming laptops
→ TSMC watches a potential future competitor get funded
→ Even industry giants now need Nvidia's ecosystem access

The deeper shift:
We're moving from general-purpose CPUs
to tightly-coupled, accelerator-first designs.

NVLink becomes the new battleground.
PCIe connections become yesterday's technology.

When the company that gave Silicon Valley its name
needs a partnership to stay relevant in AI markets,
The power structure has permanently shifted.