U.S. initial jobless claims rise by 5,000 last week to 320,000

In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending March 15 rose by 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 320,000 from the previous week’s total of 315,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 10,000 to 325,000 last week.
Continuing jobless claims in the week ended March 8 rose to 2.889 million from 2.848 million in the preceding week. Analysts had expected continuing claims to increase to 2.868 million.
The four-week moving average was 327,000, a decline of 3,500 from the previous week’s total of 330,500. The monthly average is seen as a more accurate gauge of labor trends because it reduces volatility in the week-to-week data.