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In the US, the number of jobless claims has risen again.
In the past week, 719,000 initial applications were made, as the US Department of Labor announced on Thursday in Washington.
That is 61,000 applications more than a week earlier.
Analysts had expected a low number, their average forecast was 675,000.
Although the situation on the American labor market has improved in recent months, it remains tense.
Before the Corona crisis, significantly fewer aid requests were made in the USA, only around 200,000 per week.
Initial jobless claims are an indicator of short-term developments on the labor market.
The job market was hit hard by the Corona crisis.
Many millions more people are still unemployed in the USA than before the crisis.
Stimulus package drives boom
Meanwhile, US industry expects good business prospects: it is growing faster than it has been in decades.
The purchasing manager index rose in March to 64.7 points from 60.8 in February, according to the company survey published on Thursday by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).
This is the highest value since the end of 1983.
"The mood in US industry is rising more and more into a state of euphoria," stated LBBW analyst Elmar Völker.
The combination of several favorable factors is responsible for this: "The recently decided economic stimulus package raises hopes of a surge in demand, and in view of the sharp drop in corona infection numbers in the USA, more and more restrictions for business and consumers are being removed," the expert explained.
The US real estate market, meanwhile, suffered a setback.
Affected by a cold spell in large parts of the country, construction spending fell 0.8 percent to $ 1.517 trillion in February, according to the Commerce Department.
Experts had expected a decline of 1.0 percent, after plus 1.2 percent in January.
beb / Reuters
