(Kitco News) The initial weekly jobless rose by 3,000 to 217,000 in the week to Saturday, surprising the markets with a smaller-than-expected increase.
Economists’ consensus calls projected initial claims to come in at 220,000, following the previous week’s level of 214,000.
The four-week moving average for new claims – often viewed as a more reliable measure of the labor market since it flattens week-to-week volatility – increased to 219,000. The previous week’s four-week moving average was unrevised at 212,250, the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday.
Continuing jobless claims, which represent the number of people already receiving benefits, were at 1,438,000 during the week ending October 15, an increase of 55,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 1,383,000.
The four-week moving average rose to 1,387,500, an increase of 23,000. And the previous week’s four-week moving average was revised down by 500 to 1,364,500.
Traders watch the jobless claims data very closely to gauge its impact on the Federal Reserve’s employment side of the monetary policy mandate.
Gold edged up in response to the data release but remained down on the day. Markets were more focused on the Q3 GDP release that was published at the same time and showed the U.S. economy expanding by 2.6% after contracting the previous two quarters. December Comex gold futures were last trading at $1,665.30, down 0.23% on the day.
![Live 24 hours gold chart [Kitco Inc.]](/images/live/gold.gif?0.2924175530478188)
