Jobless Claims Pop Up a Bit, Major Morning for Earnings

Thursday, February 5th, 2026

Ahead of today’s open, we see fresh Weekly Jobless Claims data. It turns out to be the last employment data of what we had anticipated to be a complete “Jobs Week,” but non-farm payrolls from the U.S. government have once again been delayed until Wednesday of next week (Feb. 11th).

Initial Jobless Claims reached their highest level of 2026 so far: +231K, well up from an expected +212K and the unrevised +209K the prior week. It’s actually the highest weekly print since early December, which is basically on the other side of holiday employment seasonality. In any case, we’ve just passed through the longest stretch of very favorable new unemployment claims in two years. We’ll reserve judgment whether we’ll return there soon.

Continuing Claims also increased off near-term lows: 1.844 million is up from the downwardly revised 1.819 million the previous week, which was the slimmest amount of longer-term jobless claims since May of ’24. This is still a favorable level for continuing jobless claims, however; we’d spent much of the past six months between 1.93 and 1.97 million.
 

Cavalcade of Earnings Reports This Morning: BMY, COP, RL & More

We have a large numbers of companies reporting quarterly earnings — by volume, the busiest day of Q4 earnings season to date so far. So let’s do a quick run-down of the biggest moves ahead of the opening bell:

Big Pharma staple Bristol Myers-Squibb BMY posted earnings of $1.26 per share, above the Zacks consensus for $1.15, which amounts to a +9.57% earnings beat. Shares are up +1.7% on the news, adding to the stock’s +6.8% gains year to date. For more on BMY’s earnings, click here.

Integrated Oil “supermajor” ConocoPhillips COP, on the other hand, missed earnings estimates this morning by 6 cents, reporting $1.02 per share for an earnings miss of -5.6%. Shares are down -3.3% upon this release, taking a bite out of the company’s significant +14.9% gains from the start of the year.

Apparel giant Ralph Lauren RL beat expectations in its Q4 earnings report this morning, posting $6.22 per share versus $5.80 for a +7.2% positive surprise, although shares are sliding -6.5% in early trading as annualized revenue growth has begun to slip below its five-year average.

Designer accessories major Tapestry TPR, formerly Coach Inc., generated a strong earnings beat this morning, with $2.69 per share well above the $2.20 in the Zacks consensus in its fiscal Q2. Shares are up +5.9% at this hour of early trading, adding to the company’s +1.7% gains from the start of the year. For more on TPR’s earnings, click here.

Other notable earnings beats this morning came from Hershey’s HSY, +21.28%, and steel giant ArcelorMittal MT, +53.57%. The biggest beat of the morning, however, came from MasterCraft Boat MCFT, which reported earnings +81.25% ahead of consensus — although revenues came in below estimates, so the stock is down -1.2%. ArcelorMittal is flat this morning and Hershey’s is +4.2%.

Questions or comments about this article and/or author? Click here>>

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

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

Zacks Investment Research