The data from
the Labour Department showed on
Thursday that the number of applications for unemployment increased in line with expectations last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits increased by 4,000 to 223,000 for the week that ended April 5. This marked the first gain
in initial claims in three weeks.
Economists had expected
223,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the
prior week were left unrevised at 219,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims was unchanged at 223,000, the lowest count since mid-February.
As for
continuing claims, they fell to 1,850,000,
from a downwardly revised
1,893,000 (from 1,903,000) in the previous week. Economists had predicted continuing jobless claims of 1,880,000.