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ZACK GUZMAN: And I also
want to spotlight the fact

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that, of course,
a lot of this was

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focused around stimulus checks.

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But when we think about the
additional stimulus that

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did come through in the
latest bill, that did

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include a backstop in time to
prevent millions of Americans

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from losing their
unemployment benefits there.

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Of course, we're going
to get the update

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in terms of the latest
jobless claims numbers.

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And for a preview
on that, I want

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to get to Yahoo Finance's
Emily McCormick, who

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has the details around that.

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And Emily, I mean, there
is a silver lining there,

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when we think about how
many people were still

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on the pandemic
relief assistance

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programs here as a backstop,
kind of a last case

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to tap into.

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Luckily, that seems
to be uninterrupted.

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EMILY MCCORMICK:
That's right, Zack.

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And just to highlight, a
Labor Department spokesperson

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did tell me in an email today
that the department does not

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anticipate that there will be
a pause ineligible claimants

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actually being able to receive
their benefits under Pandemic

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Unemployment Assistance or the
Pandemic Emergency Unemployment

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Compensation program.

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So that is really important here
when we think about the labor

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market's ongoing recovery.

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There have been some
14 million Americans

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claiming benefits between
those two programs

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as of last week's data.

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And that had
comprised the majority

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of the more than 20
million Americans claiming

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benefits across all programs.

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But as we look ahead to
tomorrow's jobless claims

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report, of course,
this is going to be

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one of the only
major economic data

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reports that we get during
this holiday-shortened week.

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And it is expected to still
show a pretty strained

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picture of the labor market.

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Economists are looking
for initial jobless claims

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to have actually risen to
833,000, up from the 803,000

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that we saw during the previous
week for those new claims.

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Now and that would be the
third time in four weeks

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that we see an
increase in new claims.

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It would also be, again,
another time in December

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that we're seeing the new
jobless claims come in

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above that 800,000 level after
actually breaking below that

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for some of November.

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And then, of course, starting
to tick back up as we

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had those new COVID-19
cases and new restrictions

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come into play.

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And then turning to the
continuing claims side, which

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of course, measures the entire
number of people still claiming

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state unemployment
benefits, that's

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actually also expected to
increase to nearly 5.4 million.

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That would be up
from the 5.34 million

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that we saw during
the previous week.

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So again, Zack.

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Just taking a look
at the labor market

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here, still seeing a
lot of signs of strain.

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Of course, this data, since
it captures last week,

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will not include any of the
impacts of Congress's new $900

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billion stimulus package.

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Although going forward,
given that there will

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be those enhanced federal
unemployment benefits, as well

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as that replenishment of loans
under the Paycheck Protection

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Program, it's possible
that we might start

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to see these claims come
back down in the new year,

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as small businesses are able
to keep more of their workforce

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on payrolls.

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AKIKO FUJITA: Emily, that just
sets up my question there,

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because that is still
the big question mark,

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is how significant the impact
from that $900 billion package

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is going to be.

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We had a small restaurant
owner on earlier this week who

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said that the next round of PPP
will be absolutely critical,

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because it comes during
the winter months

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when they're not able
to keep outdoor dining.

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Nobody wants to sit
outside in the cold,

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especially in some of
these Colder states.

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What are you hearing in
terms of the impact this is

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likely to have on some
of those businesses,

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especially the small
businesses who need

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that access to these loans?

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EMILY MCCORMICK:
That's right, Akiko.

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And what I'm hearing
from multiple economists,

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is that this more
than $300 billion

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that's going towards
small businesses out

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of that $900 billion
stimulus package,

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is really going to be key.

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It could not come soon enough.

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And even the delay
that we saw actually

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had driven, of course,
up the new jobless claims

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that we've seen over
the month of December.

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We saw the lapse
in these programs

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or really the dwindling
of the programs

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push personal income, as
well as personal spending

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down in the month of November.

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So all of these
measures are going

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to be absolutely critical.

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Just taking a look at those
enhanced unemployment benefits

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and the extension of those
pandemic unemployment

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assistance and pandemic
emergency unemployment

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compensation programs,
those are, of course,

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actually going to
expire again in March.

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So it's possible
that there may even

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need to be more done to really
help bridge that gap even

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further heading into the summer
and really the number of months

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that it's going to take
to get enough Americans

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vaccinated so that
we can have that long

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freestanding economic recovery.

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So again, this is
going to be critical

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here for the small business
side of the economy.

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But we'll see how long
this lasts heading

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through the winter months.

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ZACK GUZMAN: Man, another reason
as to why those Georgia Senate

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runoff races are so important
here, considering control here,

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divided government.

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We've seen how these stimulus
negotiations have played out.

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It would be a very different
story if President-elect Joe

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Biden had both
Democratic Congress

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and Senate there to work with.

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But Emily McCormick, appreciate
you bringing us that.