Initial jobless claims hit their highest level since mid-February, the Labor Department said Thursday.
The 2,000-claim increase to 484,000 for the week ended Saturday compared with economists’ forecasts of a decline to 465,000 new claims, Bloomberg reported.
The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, rose to 473,500 claims, from 459,250 the previous week.
Continuing claims for the previous week ended July 31 fell by 118,000 to 4.45 million, from 4.57 million a week earlier.
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