U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Rise By 3,000 To 250K
(Kitco News)- The U.S. labor market lost a little momentum after the LaborDepartment report showing that weekly U.S. jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 250,000claims in the week to Saturday.
Consensus expectations compiled by various news organizationscalled for initial claims to be around 241,000. The government revised priorweek's tally up by 2,000 to 247,000 claims.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average for new claims - oftenviewed as a more reliable measure of the labor market since it smoothens outweek-to-week volatility - was up 3,500 claims to 241,750.
Continuing jobless claims, the number of people already receivingbenefits and reported with a one-week delay, decreased by 37,000 to aseasonally adjusted 1.914 million during the week ending Dec. 23, thegovernment said.
Traders monitor jobs data closely to gauge how aggressively theU.S. Federal Open Market Committee alters monetary policy.
By Neils ChristensenFor Kitco News
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