US reports 1.5 million new jobless claims
The US Labor Department reports more than 1.5 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits in the last week, BBC News reports.
It's a drop from the week before, when 1.8m claims were filed, but remains high. It marks the second week to see less than 2m jobless applications since mid-March.
More than 40 million Americans lost their jobs over the last few months, as areas shutdown seeking to stop the spread of coronavirus.
In May, the market improved unexpectedly, with businesses beginning to rehire as states started to roll back some of the tough measures put in place to control the virus' spread.