Soft Weekly Jobless Claims Data

Pre-market futures are lower than yesterday’s close, which saw major indexes rise between +0.2% (Dow) and +0.6% (Nasdaq) on seasonal low volume (Xmas week), but hovering right around breakeven at this hour. Despite today being Christmas Eve and markets closing at 1pm ET this afternoon, we see new Weekly Jobless Claims numbers ahead of today’s opening bell.

Weekly Jobless Claims Stay Agreeable

We remain in a “no hire, no fire” range which, while the labor market sees signs of strain on monthly jobs reports, still look pretty Goldilocks on the Weekly Jobless Claims side. Last week, Initial Jobless Claims slid to +214K — one of the lowest weekly prints of the year, and below the +225K analysts had been expecting. The yearly low came Thanksgiving Week, +192K, so perhaps there are some seasonal issues putting some haze on these figures.

Continuing Claims, reported a week in arrears from new claims, moved back above 1.9 million to 1.923 million, up +38K from the downwardly revised 1.885 million reported the previous week. Again, Thanksgiving Week brought us a 2025 low 1.830 million after we spent 27 weeks — late May through late November — above 1.9 million without even touching 2 million longer-term jobless claims. That 2 million threshold is a psychological number that would make economists question the strength of the job market.

Those questions are already present, however. Both ADP ADP private-sector and BLS non-farm payroll numbers have shrunk to stall speed over the course of 2025, with the Unemployment Rate now up the highest its been since September 2021 (when it was coming down steeply month over month). We’re still historically in decent shape, labor-wise, but the question is: what’s in store for 2026?

Xmas Eve Half-Day Roundup: Commodities, Sanofi & More

Spot gold prices are up another +2% this morning, off the highs above $4500 per ounce last week but still up +71% year over year. Spot silver is back up above $72 per ounce after dipping lower this morning. Just last silver hit an all-time high, but has bounced around a bit since. WTI crude oil is starting to flatten around $58.5 per barrel, up from the $55/bbl lows from a couple weeks ago.

Bitcoin is fighting back to a position above $87K this morning, after tumbling to around $84K a month ago. This followed an all-time high back in early October around $124K. Ethereum remains below $3K at this hour, a far cry from $4.83K it was trading at this past summer. In short, its been a volatile year for cryptocurrencies.

Finally, Parisian Big Pharma staple Sanofi SNY yesterday announced it will be acquiring Bay Area biopharma firm Dynavax DVAX for $15.50 per share, all cash, for a total value of $2.2 billion. Sanofi, which offers drugs such as anti-inflammatory Dupixent, will now improve its adult vax coverage, with Dynavax’s adult Hep-B and shingles vaccination products. DVAX shares are up to that sale price, which is +39% from yesterday’s close.

We here at Zacks wish all of you a satisfying, healthy and Merry Christmas! Ahead of Wall Street returns Friday morning.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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