What Happened:

• According to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, an additional 853,000 Americans claimed first-time jobless benefits over the last week. This is the largest number of claims since mid-September.

• This is also the third increase in the past four weeks, the only decline coming during the Thanksgiving holiday.

• Continued jobless claims rose to 5.8 million, up around 300,000 from the previous week.

• With only eight days to go before the next spending deadline, the likelihood that lawmakers will to put together a new stimulus package before the deadline is dwindling. That in combination with worsening pandemic infection rates and worsening economic data raises the possibility of a "double-dip" recession.

• Although economists believe the prospects of widespread vaccine availability from Pfizer and Moderna will help with the economic recovery, the worsening economic data indicates that Congress passing some sort of stimulus package to help in the interim may be critical.

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