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U.S. weekly jobless claims show modest rise, points to stable labor market conditions

Report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed that U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ending February 11 rose 5k, to 239k. The rise was modestly below consensus expectations for a reading of 245k. The less volatile four-week moving average in initial claims rose 500, to 245k.

The modest rebound comes after jobless claims dropped to their lowest level in three months in the previous week. The Labor Department reported that no special factors were present in this week’s release and no states were estimated.

Meanwhile, the report said continuing claims dipped by 3,000 to 2.076 million in the week ended February 4th. The four-week moving average of continuing claims still rose to 2,080,250, an increase of 4,250 from the previous week's revised average of 2,076,000.

"Despite some volatility in the data around year-end, the claims data continue to point to a low rate of separation activity in labor markets and are suggestive of favorable labor market conditions overall." said Barclays Capital in a report.

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