The number of people in the US signing up for jobless benefits fell only slightly last week, doing little to calm growing fears of a pullback in the US economy’s recovery.

Initial claims for state jobless benefits slipped 6,000 to 422,000, the labour department said yesterday, which was higher than the 415,000 claims expected by economists.

The disappointing drop fits in with other data on consumer spending and manufacturing, indicating the economy has taken a decisively weak tone as the Federal Reserve prepares to wrap up its $600 billion government bond-buying programme. – (Reuters)