On the eve of the release of the widely anticipated monthly employment report, the U.S. Labor Department published data on Thursday indicating a rise in initial unemployment benefit claims for the week ending September 28th. The data revealed that initial jobless claims increased to 225,000, marking a 6,000 rise from the previous week's adjusted figure of 219,000. Market economists had predicted a modest increase to 220,000 from the initially reported 218,000 for the prior week. This unexpected upturn follows a notable decrease in claims the previous week, which had dropped to their lowest since reaching 216,000 during the week ending May 18th.