First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits saw a modest increase in the week ended June 17th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday.
The report said initial jobless claims inched up to 241,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 238,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to edge up to 240,000 from the 237,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also crept up to 244,750, an increase of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 243,250.
Continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment assistance, also climbed by 8,000 to 1.944 million in the week ended June 10th.
The four-week moving average of continuing claims rose to 1.932 million, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised average of 1.927 million.
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June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.