The data from
the Labour Department revealed on
Thursday the number of applications for unemployment came in below expectations last week.
According to
the report, the initial claims for unemployment benefits held steady at 212,000 for the
week ended April 13.
Economists had predicted
215,000 new claims last week.
Claims for the prior week
were revised upwardly to 212,000 from the original estimate of 211,000.
Meanwhile, the
four-week moving average of jobless claims was unchanged at 214,500 compared to an upwardly revised 214,500 (from 214,250) in the previous week.
As for continuing claims, they rose to 1,812,000
from a downwardly revised 1,810,000 (from 1,817,000) in the previous week. This
marked the highest reading since the week ended January 20 (~1,830,000).