unemployment benefits. that number fell slightly down 6,000 from the previous week. this is a weekly number. to about 472,000. some economists say that suggests that the pace of layoffs may have eased be ate a bit, but keep in mind overall it s usually under 400,000, so that number s still of concern, and the white house takes note of it. other numbers out today, productivity which is the amount of output per hour of work fell in the second quarter, that s april to june, fell 1.8%. that s the largest amount in nearly four years. and labor costs rose 1.1%, that s the biggest rise in labor costs since late 2008. this coupled with the productivity drop indicates that the reduced work forces companies are putting out as much as they can. finally, the latest bit of economic news, home buyers, it s a great time to get a mortgage. the rate for a 30-year fixed loan is 4.32% this week, that s down from 4.36% last week.
first time to get jobless benefits. but not as bad as the week before, when it was 472,000, not as bad as people thought it would be this week. s that an improvement. also looking at other things, in europe, banks will be undergoing stress tests, a a lot of talk about how strong and viable and vibrant will those banks be. and there s been a lot of speculation about it. but the euro is a little stronger. and so that s helping people have some confidence about putting, putting their money in some other riskier assets like the stock market. and we re building on yesterday s gains. building on yesterday s gains, two days in a row of back to back gains. after a brutal decline since april would be a sign that the a least some investors, tony, are starting to think that they ve priced in the worst-case scenario. this is what the s&p looks like for this year. this is what s in your stocks you have in your retirement fund. the s&p is 500 different companies, so it s more likely that it looks so
before being downgraded and it spawned several twisters near brownsville, texas. no major injuries to report. also it may be several more days before the gulf oil clean-up effort kicks back up into full gear. that s because alex stirred up heavy seas across the gulf, forcing hundreds of oil-skimming ships to return to shore. what s described as the largest of those ships arrived in the gulf yesterday. the taiwanese company that owns it still needs the green light to start work. and a jump in americans joining the unemployment line. the weekly jobless claim rose 472,000 last week as 13,000 more from the previous week. when the monthly jobs report is released tomorrow, it could show that employers cut about 100,000 jobs last month. americans getting a new shot at health care today. preexisting conditions no longer disqualifying you from coverage. we ll look at the new rules. co. a car that keeps going, when others might quit.
on day 73 of the gulf oil disaster a new skimmer ship has arrived. awaiting approval to join the clean-up. right now most skimming boats are in port because of tropical storm alex. jobless numbers across america up again. new claims for benefits jumped by 13,000 last week to 472,000, higher than expected. supermodel naomi campbell will be ordered to testify at a war crimes trial against former liberian president, charles taylor. prosecutors say campbell received a so-called blood diamond from taylor. taylor is accused of fueling a civil war in sierra leone, diamonds helped fuel the war. his death sounded a new alarm for illegal immigration. we ll look at the case of an arizona rancher.
the a-whale arrived in the gulf yesterday. it s billed as the world s largest oil skimmer out of washington. the u.s. department of labor releases its latest report on unemployment. and 472,000 americans applied for unemployment insurance for the first time last week. that s up 13,000 from the previous week. the numbers could reflect census jobs that have ended and those out of work due to the bp oil leak in the gulf. the nba has its free agency negotiating period. which actually got started at 12:01 this morning. lebron james, why am i holding this? i m not lebron james is a wanted man by everybody. you d expect the two-time most valuable player to be front-page news in his hometown of akron, ohio, right? but has pushed oil leak coverage below the fold in pensacola. and new york is literally falling all over itself trying to lure king james away. that s where we find sports