Initial Jobless Claims Climb for Week

Initial jobless claims rose by 17,000 last week to 551,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Economists had forecast claims for the week ended Saturday would rise to 535,000 from a revised 534,000 the previous week, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, fell to 548,500 for the week ended Saturday, Labor said. The average was 554,2500 a week earlier, Labor said.

The number of Americans collecting jobless benefits fell to 6.09 million for the previous week ended Sept. 19.