The Labor Department released a report on Thursday unexpectedly showing another modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended July 16th.
The report showed initial jobless claims crept up to 251,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 244,000. The uptick surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to edge down to 240,000.
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Forex News
May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.