Initial Jobless Claims Rise to Highest Since November

Initial jobless claims rose to the highest since November as the weakening economy hurt payrolls.

Jobless claims rose 12,000 to 500,000 in the week ending Aug. 14. The revised figure for the previous week was 488,000. The four-week moving average, a clearer measure of unemployment trends, rose 8,000 to 482,500, the Department of Labor said in a statement. The revised average for the previous week was 474,500.

A survey of economists by Bloomberg News forecast jobless claims of 478,000.

The Federal Reserve said last week that the economic recovery would likely be "more modest" than anticipated, with high unemployment hitting incomes and spending.

"Given the trend of claims, it looks like the economy ran into a wall in August," Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-MitsubishI UFJ in New York, told Reuters.