The United States announced that the number of initial jobless claims for the week ended August 10 was 227,000, compared with expectations of 235,000 and the previous value was revised from 233,000 to 234,000. This is the lowest number of initial jobless claims in five weeks. The number of people continuing to claim unemployment benefits in the United States for the week ended August 3 was 1.864 million, compared with expectations of 1.875 million and the previous value was revised from 1.875 million to 1.871 million. The monthly rate of U.S. retail sales in July was 1%, the largest increase since January 2023. U.S. retail sales growth in July exceeded expectations, which may help ease financial market concerns about a sharp slowdown in the economy.