Initial jobless claims edged up by 2,000 to 232,000 in the week ended May 27, a Labor Department report showed Thursday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 235,000 claims.

Data from the Commerce Department earlier this month showed inflation falling below the 5% mark for the first time in two years, with CPI pegged at an annualized rate of 4.9%. The core inflation, which, as we know, strips-out volatile components such as food and energy prices, rose 0.4% on the month and 5.5% on the year, with both readings matching Wall Street forecasts.