The data from
the Labour Department revealed on Thursday the number of applications for
unemployment came in line with expectations last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits increased by 2,000 to 230,000 for the week ended September. This
marked the first gain in first-time unemployment claims in three weeks.
Economists had predicted
230,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week were revised upwardly to 228,000
from the original estimate of 227,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims rose to 230,750 from an upwardly revised 230,250 (from 230,000) in the previous week.
This represented the first advance in five weeks.
As for
continuing claims, they increased to 1,850,000,
compared to an upwardly revised 1,845,000
(from 1,838,000) in the previous week. Economists had forecast continuing jobless claims of 1,850,000.