Weekly Jobless Claims Continue to Rise

Initial jobless claims rose by 9,000 last week to 654,000, the sixth straight increase, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Analysts had forecast initial claims would rise to 644,000 for the week ended Saturday, from the originally reported 639,000 in the previous week, Bloomberg reported.

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, rose to 650,000, the highest level in more than 26 years.

The number of people receiving continuing claims rose 193,000 to a record 5.317 million for the previous week ended Feb. 28, Labor said.