Jobless Claims in U.S. Increase to Highest Level in Five Weeks
May 5, 2016 — 8:30 AM EDT Updated on May 5, 2016 — 8:46 AM EDT
Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits increased to a five-week high, a sign that progress in the strongest part of the economy may be moderating.
Jobless claims rose by 17,000 to 274,000 in the week ended April 30, a Labor Department report showed Thursday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey was 260,000. The jump was the largest since January 2015.
Further increases in new applications would probably be needed to mark a shift in sentiment among hiring managers about the economy’s prospects after the weakest quarter for growth in two years. Focus turns to payrolls data due Friday from the Labor Department, and forecasts call for another steady employment gain in April.
“If they trend higher for a few weeks, then we start to worry, but we’ve been steadily lower,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, a U.S. strategist at TD Securities LLC in New York, who projected an increase to 271,000. “The U.S. economy may not be growing at 3 percent, but we’re continuing to muddle along, and that’s still creating a demand for labor.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-05/jobless-claims-in-u-s-increase-to-highest-level-in-five-weeks
