Jobless Claims Reach Nine-Month High

Initial jobless claims reached a nine-month high last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Claims jumped by 23,000 for the week ended Saturday, to 352,000, Labor said.

The less-volatile four-week moving average also rose, to 335,250, from 329,500.

The increase was in the range of economists’ estimates, Bloomberg said.

The number of people continuing to collect benefits rose to 2.665 million for the previous week ended Nov. 17, from 2.553 million the previous week.