A day ahead of the closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose in line with estimates in the week ended November 28th.
The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 269,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 260,000. Economists had expected claims to rise to 269,000.
Jobless claims rebounded after moving lower for two straight weeks, bouncing off the one-month low set it in the previous week.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average edged down to 269,250, a decrease of 1,750 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 271,000.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, rose by 6,000 to 2.161 million in the week ended November 21st.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims still dipped to 2,166,500, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 2,168,750.
Friday morning, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report for November.
Economists expect the report to show an increase of about 190,000 jobs in November following the jump of 271,000 jobs seen in October.
The unemployment rate is expected to hold at the more than seven-year low of 5.0 percent set in the previous month.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com