Ahead of the Bell: Unemployment Benefits

Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR forecast that claims rose to 370,000 for the week that ended May 10. The Labor Department is scheduled to release the data at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

The department last week said applications for unemployment benefits fell by 18,000 to 365,000. Even more encouraging news came earlier this month when the department said the unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent in April from 5.1 percent, and that employers eliminated 20,000 jobs compared with 81,000 in March.

But the government's four-week moving average of new claims, which smooths out week-to-week fluctuations, last week grew by 2,500 to 367,000.

Several companies announced job cuts this week:

-Tyson Foods said it will permanently lay off 190 workers at its Hanover County, Va., poultry processing plant by next month as it adds new equipment to streamline production.

-Hewlett-Packard Co. indicated it will make significant layoffs as it cuts overlapping jobs and other expenses under its $13.2 billion acquisition of technology services provider Electronic Data Systems Corp. The companies' executives declined to estimate how many workers might lose their jobs.

-The chief executive of Triarc Cos., which owns Arby's roast beef sandwich restaurants, said that employees of Wendy's International Inc. should prepare for job cuts as Triarc gets closer to acquiring the nation's third-largest hamburger chain.