Odaily News The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week, suggesting the job market remained stable in early February. The Labor Department said on Thursday that initial claims for unemployment benefits fell 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 213,000 in the week ended February 8. So far this year, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits has been on a downward trend, consistent with the historically low unemployment rate. This has helped support economic expansion and allowed the Federal Reserve to pause its interest rate cuts while assessing the impact of the Trump administration's policies. Economists believe that Trump's push for large-scale deportations of undocumented immigrants, import tariffs and tax cuts will lead to inflation. However, despite the low layoff rate, there are no longer as many job opportunities for the unemployed as there were about a year ago, and companies have adopted a wait-and-see attitude. (Jinshi)