Listen Now [https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://open.spotify.com/episode/5DtjqKy69daBABmatBSb2G__;!!F0Stn7g!EfqfT-uhnuM15IZbXXSFFc0D0kGcDRDIu-XoSvEagjKj86-Ybia5Qkt5HLQIevV__f7FN_0OnpOkjhsrfXCZ3pgy4ywVbchfQrOgarQ3$ ] Basis Points Worker filings in the U.S. for unemployment benefits dropped last week, a sign the labor market remains solid. Initial jobless claims declined 12,000 in the week ended July 8. The four-week average of weekly claims, which smooths volatility in weekly numbers, decreased to 246,750. (Dow Jones Newswires) Growth in imports at the busiest U.S. container trade gateway is sputtering. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in June handled 709,632 import boxes, measured in 20-foot equivalent units, down 7.9% compared with May and 17.5% lower than a year earlier when consumer spending fueled a surge in imports. (DJN) The U.S. federal budget deficit widened sharply to $227.76 billion in June, up from $88.8 billion in the same month last year, the Treasury Department said Thursday. For the first nine months of the fiscal year, the deficit was $1.39 trillion, up from $515.1 billion in the same period last year. (MarketWatch) The Mexican peso is on a roll, reaching its strongest level since 2015 and becoming the best performer among major currencies in the past year, boosted by high local interest rates, rising exports and record remittances. Prospects of nearshoring fueling foreign direct investment also bolstered demand for one of the most-traded emerging market currencies, economists say. The peso was changing hands Thursday at 16.90 to the U.S. dollar, a level not seen since December 2015. China's GDP growth likely accelerated to 6.9% in 2Q thanks to a low base a year ago when the country locked down Shanghai and other cities to curb the spread of Covid, according to a WSJ poll of 14 economists. (DJN) Singapore's economy grew at a faster pace in the second quarter, as strong expansion in construction and services-producing industries outweighed a contraction in manufacturing. (DJN) The eurozone posted a much narrower trade deficit in May compared with the same month of 2022 as countries paid less for energy imports. The bloc's trade deficit--the difference between exports and imports of goods--stood at around 300 million euros ($336.8 million) in May, far less than the EUR30.3 billion deficit recorded in the same month a year earlier, the European Union's data agency Eurostat said Friday. (DJN) Feedback Loop

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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-14-23 0716ET