This morning, the U.S. Department of Labor released the weekly jobless claims report. This week’s report was a mix of bad and good indicators.

There were 742,000 new unemployment claims reported. This is an increase of about 18,000 over last week’s report. This is the first increase in new claims in over a month.

The number of people collecting unemployment week over week fell.

We can see from these numbers that people continue to lose their jobs at a record pace. But hiring is still outpacing job losses.

The markets were lower ahead of the open. At writing, the Dow and the S&P 500 continue to trade in the red. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has moved into positive territory.

The COVID-19 virus is spreading at a record pace ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. States are imposing new restrictions. New York City has closed all public schools.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. There are now three vaccine candidates with positive results. But the approval and release of the vaccines is still months away.

Today, markets appear to be pausing to weigh the mixed news.

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