Briefcase

Demand for workers appears strong

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in two months, suggesting resilient demand for workers amid a moderation in job gains.

Initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 228,000 in the week ended July 15, according to Labor Department data published Thursday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 240,000 new claims.

Continuing claims, which count those who have received unemployment benefits for more than one week, rose by 33,000 to 1.75 million in the week through July 8. That marked the largest increase in more than three months.

The numbers suggest the labor market remains strong as businesses hold onto employees, even as they’ve added to payrolls in recent months at a slower pace. A robust job market has been instrumental in underpinning consumer spending, offering hope the economy can avoid a recession this year.

The four-week moving average of initial claims fell to a six-week low of 237,500. That figure can help smooth through volatility in week-to-week numbers.

On an unadjusted basis, claims were little changed in the week ended July 15. Applications increased in California, Georgia and South Carolina. Many other states, including Michigan and Kentucky, saw declines.

BLM proposes revamp of oil and gas drilling program

Oil and gas drillers would have to commit more than 10 times as much money to guarantee their wells won’t pollute under an Interior Department proposal announced Thursday, the first such update to the program in more than a half-century.

The Bureau of Land Management outlined widespread changes to what oil and gas companies would pay to operate on federal lands, including raising royalty rates and several minimum fees. The biggest change would raise their bonding requirement for the first time since 1960, to $150,000 per lease from $10,000, to help pay to plug wells or secure leaky ones if firms go out of business or abandon their wells.

“We don’t want the taxpayers holding the bag in the future,” Laura Daniel-Davis, Interior principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, said in a phone interview.

The minimum royalty rate the government is paid from oil and gas production on federal lands would rise for the first time in a century, to 16.67% from 12.5%. And the agency would raise minimum fees for what companies pay to lease and hold lands, to try to limit speculation on leases that companies can hold for up to a decade without drilling, Daniel-Davis said.

The proposed rules mark the Biden administration’s most ambitious effort yet to overhaul the rules for oil and gas leasing on public lands, the culmination of two years of work aimed at reconciling fossil fuel extraction with the president’s climate agenda.

American reports record revenue

American Airlines reported total revenue of $14.1 billion in its second quarter, the highest quarterly revenue in the airline’s history, as international travel demand spiked this year.

That’s a 4.7% increase year-over-year for the Fort Worth-based airline. Passenger revenues accumulated from air transportation accounted for $13 billion, $197 million in cargo revenue and $880 million in other revenues that include the AAdvantage affinity car program, produced the record quarter.

The carrier also drove in a $1.3 billion profit in the second quarter, factoring in airfare sales for the summer.

From wire reports