A day ahead of the release of the more closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended July 30th.
The report showed initial jobless claims crept up to 260,000, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level of 254,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 259,000 from the 256,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also edged up to 254,750, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's revised average of 248,750.
