LAST WEEK’S JOBLESS CLAIMS EXPECTED AT 1.8M

Another wave of COVID- 19- related layoffs is likely to be reported Thursday but economists are looking for some glimmers of hope. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg estimate the Labor Department will report that 1.8 million Americans filed initial applications for unemployment insurance last week, down from 2.1 million the previous week. That would push total claims over the past 11 weeks to 42.5 million. But it also would mark the ninth straight weekly decline.