The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing an unexpected uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended October 28th.
The report said initial jobless claims crept up to 217,000, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 212,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to come in unchanged compared to the 210,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also inched up to 210,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average of 208,000.
