Rise in Jobless Claims Below Forecast

U.S. unemployment claims rose less than expected last week in the latest sign of tightening labor markets, and a separate report on wholesale inventories was also stronger than forecast.

The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of U.S. workers making new claims for state unemployment benefits rose 4,000 to 277,000 in the week ended Feb. 4. Wall Street analysts had forecast a larger increase, to 285,000.

A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors behind the rise.

It was the fifth week in the last six that claims were below 300,000. As a rule of thumb, some analysts say 350,000 is a threshold signaling a stable market. Being consistently below this level is seen as a sign of strength.

“Claims are still suggesting that the economy started the year with a strong employment situation,” said Gary Thayer, chief economist at A.G. Edwards & Sons in St Louis.

Unseasonably mild weather in January boosted construction employment, and some economists think the underlying picture is not as rosy as recent data suggest.

The four-week moving average of initial claims, which smooths weekly volatility to yield a more reliable indication of underlying trends, declined by 7,750 to 276,500, its lowest level since April 2000.

The report also showed that the number of people still on the unemployment rolls after drawing an initial week of benefits rose by 60,000 to 2.56 million in the week ended Jan. 28, the most recent period for which the data are available. Wall Street had expected continued claims to rise to 2.52 million.

In other data, the Commerce Department said wholesale inventories rose 1% in December, above expectations, as car stocks climbed and inventories of nondurable goods posted the largest monthly gain in nearly five years.