{"id":30554,"date":"2026-03-12T16:58:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T16:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/uncategorized\/30554\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T16:58:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T16:58:24","slug":"us-continuing-jobless-claims-met-forecasts-at-1-85-million-reported-for-late-february-without-surprises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/live-updates\/30554\/","title":{"rendered":"US continuing jobless claims met forecasts at 1.85 million, reported for late February without surprises"},"content":{"rendered":"US continuing jobless claims matched expectations at 1.85 million for the week ending 27 February.\n\nThe reading suggests no change versus forecasts for that period.\n\n<h3>Labor Market Snapshot<\/h3>\nWe remember this time last year, around late February 2025, when continuing jobless claims came in exactly as expected at 1.85 million. This figure pointed to a stable and predictable labor market. That stability kept market volatility relatively low.\n\nThe picture today is quite different, as the steady trend we saw through much of 2025 has shifted. Recent data for early March 2026 shows continuing claims have crept up to 1.98 million, exceeding consensus estimates. This slow but consistent rise suggests the labor market is losing some of its previous strength.\n\nThis softening economic data increases the probability of the Federal Reserve considering a rate cut sooner than previously anticipated. Such uncertainty is a key driver for market volatility, which we&#8217;ve seen reflected in the VIX climbing from the low teens to around 18 in recent weeks. This environment creates more opportunity but also more risk.\n\nIn the coming weeks, traders could consider buying options to hedge against or speculate on increased price swings. This might involve purchasing puts on major indices like the SPX as a defensive play against potential economic slowing. Alternatively, call options on the VIX could prove profitable if this market nervousness continues to build.\n\nWe are also seeing a direct response in interest rate futures, which are now pricing in a higher likelihood of a Fed rate cut by the summer. For those positioned in fixed income, this could be a signal to go long on Treasury futures. This is because bond prices typically rise when the market expects interest rates to fall.\n\n<h3>Rates Market Implications<\/h3>\n\n<b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/trade-now\/\">Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.vtmarkets.com\/login\">start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b>\n<p>\r\n\r\n<p><strong>Start trading now &#8211; Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/trade-now\/\">here<\/a> to create your real VT Markets account <\/strong> <\/p>\r\n<!-- \/wp:post-content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US continuing jobless claims met expectations, holding at 1.85 million in week ending February 27, unchanged overall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"josephine","author_link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/author\/josephine\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET","POST","PUT","PATCH","DELETE"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}