The latest weekly jobless claims have beaten expectations of economists by more than 60,000. Although the latest weekly data was released on Wednesday, one day earlier than usual, it was because of the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. The weekly jobless claims stood at 199,000; much lower that the 260,000 estimate given by economists.

Continuing claims for regular state unemployment benefits levels are also promising. They run a week behind. These claims also decreased and now stand at 2.05 million. They are also slowly inching towards pre-pandemic levels. These claims are also a pandemic-era low. It indicates that the labor market is tightening.

Last week the claims were at the lowest level since March 2020, when the pandemic affected the labor market. The recent continuing claims are also coming closer to the 2019 average of approximately 1.7 million per week.

The trend of falling weekly jobless claims has been attributed to some extent to employers holding on to their employees. The labor market is tight and employers are offering higher than usual wages as well as perquisites to retain their employees. There is a a shortage of employees in almost all sectors. Holding on to their current employees with increased benefits plus offering good wages to new hires has become a part of companies’ strategies.

Although the economy has not reached pre-pandemic levels as it is still short by around 4 million jobs, the latest monthly employment statistics said that 531,000 jobs were added last month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported that the unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent; the earlier rate was 4.8 percent.

The improved labor market could lead to an early tapering by the Federal Reserve. Fed chair, Jeremy Powell, who was recently nominated for a second term by President Biden, announced that the Fed could accelerate its tapering schedule, depending on the outlook of the market.

Angela Merkel will step down from the position of Chancellor of Germany after 16 years of rule. However, she will not be succeeded by a member of her own ruling coalition. Instead Olaf Scholz, the candidate from the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) will be the new chancellor of the country.

Wednesday afternoon, three parties the SPD, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Green Party announced a coalition that is expected to govern the country. Negotiations behind closed doors have been taking place from over a month after the September 26 elections. However, the leaders of the political parties did not divulge any details, till Wednesday.

The announcement not only mentioned that Olaf Scholz would be the next chancellor but also stated that the finance minister would be Christian Linder, the head of the FDP. Annalena Baerbock of the Green Party will be the Foreign Minister and Robert Habeck, also of the Green Party, will be the Economy and Climate Minister.

Scholz is expected to take over the leadership next month. Although there is some talk about change, many measures that have been taken under the leadership of Angela Merkel could remain the same. Scholz has been the finance minister under Merkel’s leadership and some say that he has adapted a similar style, after working with her for years.

The coalition, called the traffic-light coalition due to traditional party colors–Red for the SDP, yellow for the FDP and of course green for the Green Party, was expected to form the new government and strove to maintain an optimistic outlook about their talks for a coalition. However, it took five weeks of behind the scenes negotiations, following which there was a formal announcement.

After being sworn in as the German Chancellor, Scholz will not only face border tensions and shifting foreign policy but will also have to tackle the surge of COVID-19 across Germany. Europe is seeing a reemergence of coronavirus cases. The new chancellor and his administration will have to focus, once again, on vaccination drives, possible lockdowns, slowing of the economy and more.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced that the Department of Energy would release 50 million barrels of oil for Americans. The Department of Energy will use oil that is in its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) so that the nation can see a lowering in gas prices that have soared in the past few weeks.

According to the White House, the release of oil will also “address the mismatch between demand exiting the pandemic and supply.” President Biden has worked with countries around the world who will also release supplies in parallel with the U.S. Some of these countries who will also release their reserves are the following:

China
India
The United Kingdom
Japan
Republic of Korea.

As the diplomatic initiative led by the President became public, there has been an almost 10 percent decrease in price. With the release of additional supplies from reserves in countries across the world, oil prices are expected to see a further drop.

The U.S. Department of Energy is expected to release the oil in two ways:

32 million barrels of oil will be an exchange over months. Oil will be released and will return to the SPR in the future, over several years, for future needs. It will help provide Americans with immediate relief.

18 million barrels will be an acceleration into the coming months of a sale of oil. The Congress had already authorized the sale.

The White House also said that Biden would focus on how consolidation in the energy sector of oil and gas might result in anti-competitive practices that prevent Americans from getting the benefits of lower prices of oil and gas in order to pump more gas and have lower heating bills.

The White House press release also mentioned the President’s clean energy goals. The administration will invest in combating climate change. It is planning to make America a zero-emission economy by 2050 and to reduce the nation’s dependency on foreign fossil fuels.