Weekly US jobless claims rise past forecasts

A key gauge of the health of the US jobs market worsened slightly last week, but continued to point to robust levels of hiring.

Initial unemployment claims increased by 13,000 during the week ending on 27 May to 248,000, according to the Department of Labour.

Economists at Barclays had forecast a reading of 240,000.

The previous week's tally was revised slightly higher too, by 1,000 to 235,000.

A four-weel moving average of initial claims meant to smoothe out the volatility from one week to the next increased by 2,500 to 238,000.

Secondary unemployment claims, those which are not filed for the first time and referencing the week that finished on 20 May slipped by 9,000 to hit 1.915m.