Jobless Claims Rise for Week

Initial jobless claims rose by 12,000 last week to 346,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The less-volatile four-week moving average rose to 343,000, the highest level since October 2005.
 
The weekly claims were higher than of economists’ forecasts of 335,000, Bloomberg reported.

The number of people continuing to collect benefits rose to a one-month high of 2.646 million for the previous week ended Dec. 8, from 2.634 million the previous week.