U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Rise

Initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose 8,000 to 480,000, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday, as the job market registered its second straight disappointing weekly report. A Bloomberg News economists survey had expected jobless claims to fall to 455,000.

Further, while two weeks is not nearly enough to demonstrate a trend reversal, the initial jobless claims stat, when combined with increases in both the four-week moving average (by 11,750 to 468,750) and in continuing claims (by 2,000 to 4.602 million), raises questions about when jobs will clearly recover.