- The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by 14,000 to a nine-week high of 344,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The increase was unexpected. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected claims to fall to a seasonally adjusted 320,000 in the seven days ended April 26. Claims jumped 25,000 to 330,000 in the prior week but analysts had thought some of the gain was due to the Easter holiday and would be reversed this week. The average of new claims over the past month rose by 3,000 to 320,000, the highest since the end of March. The monthly figure smooths out the jumpiness in the weekly data and offers a better look at the underlying trend. Also, the government said continuing claims increased by 97,000 to a seasonally adjusted 2.77 million in the week ended April 19.
Source: Marketwatch
Source: Marketwatch
