Jobless Claims Stay Low at +200K, Q3 GDP Up to +4.4%

Thursday, January 22nd, 2026

Ahead of today’s opening bell, Thursday morning Weekly Jobless Claims are out, and they continue to portray a labor market cruising along at a healthy low rate of unemployment claims. Initial Jobless Claims came in at an even +200K, 8K below expectations and a tick up from the slightly upwardly revised +199K the previous week. Our trailing four-week average on new jobless claims is now +202K, -15K lower per week than the previous four weeks.

Continuing Claims, reported a week in arrears from new claims, reached 1.85 million in today’s print, down from the 1.884 million reported a week ago. Since the string of 1.9+ million longer-term jobless claims per week, which lasted from Memorial Day to Thanksgiving last year, today’s tally is the second-lowest we’ve seen. More good news for strength in the labor market.
 

Q3 GDP Revised Up to +4.4%

Also out this morning is the revision to Q3 Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which climbed 10 basis points (bps) to +4.4% — the highest single quarter since +4.7% back in Q3 of 2023. Exports, investments and inventories all came up on the revision, slightly augmented by lower consumer spending in the quarter.
 

Earnings Reports Ahead of the Bell: GE, PG & More

GE Aerospace GE posted a healthy +9.3% earnings beat in its Q4 report out ahead of today’s open. Earnings of $1.57 per share easily surpassed the $1.44 in the Zacks consensus. Revenues also outperformed estimates, $11.87 billion, for a +5.38% positive surprise. Yet slowing revenue growth is bringing some bearish sentiment to the stock as a result, and shares are down -3% — basically erasing the company’s year-to-date gains so far. For more on GE’s earnings, click here.

Procter & Gamble PG shares are up +1.6% at this hour of the pre-market on mixed results in the company’s fiscal Q2. Earnings beat the Zacks consensus by a penny to $1.88, while revenues were short of estimates by -0.36% to $22.21 billion. Sales are up slightly, from $21.88 billion a year ago, even as signs of weaker spending in the U.S. were cited. For more on PG’s earnings, click here.

Abbott Labs ABT, meanwhile, is down -7.2% so far this morning, as the drug-maker reached the earnings estimate of $1.50 per share exactly, though came up -2.76% shy of revenue projections to $11.46 billion in the quarter. Shares are now trading in the negative going back to this time last year. For more on ABT’s earnings, click here.

Metals miner Freeport-McMoRan FCX posted perhaps the most impressive Q4 results ahead of the opening bell this morning, reporting earnings of 47 cents per share versus 28 cents estimated, on $5.63 billion in revenues, which outpaced the $5.18 billion analysts were expecting. Shares are up slightly, but this is off majorly impressive performances year to date (+19%) and over the past year (+55%).

After today’s close, we’ll see new earnings releases from major companies as disparate as Intel INTC to Intuitive Surgical ISRG to Capital One COF. Heading into earnings results, all three of these companies are currently carrying Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) ratings.

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