The latest market news as Fed Chair Powell testifies for second day on Capitol Hill
There were 264,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance during the week ending June 17, unchanged from the previous week's upwardly revised total, according to Department of Labor data released Thursday.
Economists were expecting 260,000 initial claims to be filed, according to Refinitiv.
Continuing claims, which are filed by people who have received unemployment benefits for more than one week, were 1.759 million for the week ended June 10, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised total. Economists were expecting 1.782 million continuing claims, according to Refinitiv.
Weekly jobless claims, which are highly volatile and frequently revised, remain below historical averages: In the decade before the pandemic, weekly claims for unemployment benefits averaged 311,000, Labor Department data shows.
The four-week moving average for initial claims has trended up in recent weeks, landing at 255,750 claims. That's the highest level since November 2021, according to the Labor Department.
Source: CNN
