US jobless claims unexpectedly rise to 242,000
Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at an accelerated pace in the week ended 7 December, according to the Department of Labor.
Initial jobless claims surged by 18,000 to 242,000, well and truly ahead of expectations for a drop of 4,000 from the prior week's upwardly revised reading to 220,000, marking the steepest new claims count since October.
Continuing claims rose by 15,000 to 1.86m, close to November's three-year high of 1.90m, while the four-week moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, rose by 5,750 to 224,250.
Elsewhere, the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2% for the week ended 30 November, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com